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MEMOIRS 



CONCERNING 



BETWEEN THE 



FRENCH AND SCOTS, 



AND 



The Privileges of the Scots in France. 

FAITHFULLY TRANSLATED 



FROM THE 



©rtgtttal IfottirtfS x>{ t$t i&utgtom ot tfxmct. 



By Mr. THOMAS MONCRIEFF. 



EDINBURGH: 

PRINTED BY W. CHEYNE. 1751 . 



HEPRINTED FOR j. WVLIE & CO. 
By Robert Chapman, 

1819. 



LC Control Number 




2008 277744 



THE 

CONTENTS. 



CHAP. I. 



*AGK 

The alliance of France and Scotland, 1 

Treaty of alliance between Charles IV. surnamed 
die Fair, king of France, and Robert L king 
of Scotland, concluded in 1326, - - 4 

Renewals of that alliance, - • • - 10 

Contracts of marriage between the royal families 

of France and Scotland, - - - 11 

CHAP. II. 

Services done to France by the Scots, ~ - If 

CHAR III. 

Rewards of services granted by the kings of France 

to the Scots, - - - - 16 

Sect. 1. Dignities, offices, honours and lands, 

conferred upon the Scots in France, - -17 

Sect. 2. Of the Scots guards, - - 19 

Sect. 3. Letters of naturalization for all Scots, 
men granted or confirmed by the kings of 
France, ...... -23 

Sect. 4. Letters-patents containing the privileges 
of the Scottish merchants trading in France, 
&c 25 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Letters of general naturalization for the whole 
Scottish nation in France, by king Lewis 
XII. in 1513, - - - - 25 

Letters-patents of king Henry II. containing the 

privileges of the Scots, in the year 1558, - 31 

Extract of the registers of the parliament of Paris, 35 

Letters-patents of king Henry IV. bearing con- 
firmation of the privileges of the Scots in 
France, in 1599, 36 

Extract of the records of parliament, - - 41 

Letters-patents of Lewis XIII. to confirm the pri- 
vileges of the Scots in France, in the year 
1612, 42 

Extract of the registers of the parliament of Paris, 46 

Act of king Lewis XIV/s council of state, in fa- 
vour of the Scots in France, - - - 47 

Privileges of the Scottish merchants trading in 

France, granted by king Francis I. in 1518, 49 

Privileges of the Scottish merchants trading in 

France, granted by king Henry II. in 1554, 51 

Confirmation of the privileges of the Scottish mer- 
chants trading in France, granted by king 
Henry IV, in 1599, 52 



MEMOIRS 

CONCERNING 

THE ANCIENT ALLIANCE 

BETWEEN THE 

FRENCH AND SCOTS, 

AND THE 

PRIVILEGES 

OF 

THE SCOTS IN FRANCE. 



AS the privileges of the Scots in France are a 
consequence of the union and alliance which sub- 
sisted so many ages between the two crowns, it is 
necessary, in the first place, to treat what regards 
that alliance, in order to come afterwards to the 
privileges granted by the Kings of JFrance to the 
Scots. 



CHAP. I. 

THE ALLIANCE OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 

It is the general opinion of all the Scottish his- 
torians, that the alliance of the French and Scots is 

A 



2 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

as ancient as Charlemagne. * Some French histo- 
rians have related the same fact ; and so undoubted 
did it appear in France under Henry II. that in 
the -f- contract of marriage between Francis the 
Dauphin his son, and Mary Queen of Scotland, it 
is expressly said, that the friendship of the two 
kingdoms had subsisted eight hundred years ; 
which carries it up to the reign of Charlemagne. 
And the ancient author of Chronicon Normaniae, J 
speaking of Charles the Bald in the year 848, seems 
to insinuate this alliance in these terms: " Rex 
Scotorum ad Carolum, pads et amicitice gratia, le- 
gates cum viuneribus mittit> #c." [The King of 
Scotland to Charles, for peace and friendship's 
sake, sendeth ambassadors with presents, &c] 

David Chamber, one of the lords of council and 
session at Edinburgh, in his history dedicated to 
Henry III. King of France, in 1579, produces a 
series of treaties of alliance between the Kings of 
France and Scotland, which he pretends to have 
taken from ancient Scottish historians no longer to 
be found. 

Such are the treaties of alliance between Philip I. 
King of France, and || Malcolm III. King of Scot- 
land ; between Lewis VII. and § Malcolm IV. and 
between the same Lewis VII. and ^[ William King 
of Scotland ; between Philip II. and ** Alexan- 
der II. ; between St. Lewis and ff Alexander III. 

But whatever be in those first alliances, of which 

* Jo. Fordun. lib. 3, cap. 48. Boeth. 1. 10. p. 185, &c. 
Jo. Major. 1. 2. c. 13. Paul. JEmU. — f Printed by Leonard. 

$ Chron. Norman, edit. Duchesne, p. 525 — 1| David Cham- 

brehist. f. 129— § lb. f. 140.— % lb. f. 141.—** lb. £ 149.— 
tflb. f. 153. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 3 

we can vouch neither certain documents, nor au- 
thentic copies, it is unquestionable, that, to begin 
from Philip the Fair, there runs an uninterrupted 
train of alliances between the Kings of France and 
of Scotland, down to Henry IV. and James VI. 
Even in the year 1326, the treaty of Charles the 
Fair and Robert I. shows that there had been " a 
friendship or alliance of long standing between our 
predecessors Kings of France, and our kingdom, 
on one part, and the Kings of Scotland, and the 
said kingdom of Scotland, on the other. 4 " These 
are King Charles's own words in the treaty, which 
clearly supposes that the alliance between France 
and Scotland is far more ancient than his time, 
though we have not now extant any authentic 
copy of such treaties prior to that of Philip the 
Fair and John Baliol, in 1295. 

Here follows the series of those treaties of which 
any copies remain, and of which the originals 
were actually amongst the charters of France in 
Henry II.'s time, according to an inventory made 
of them, together with the treaties of France and 
England, by Mr. Du. Tillet, clerk of parliament, 
and printed in folio, 1588. 

Treaty of alliance between Philip the Fair, * 
King of France, and John Baliol, King of Scot- 
land, concluded at Paris, the 23d of October, 1295. 

Treaty of alliance between Charles IV. sur- 
named the Fair, King of France, and Robert L 
King of Scotland, concluded in 1326. 

Charles, by the Grace of God, King of France 

* Rymer foedera Angliae, torn. II. p. 680,. &<\ 
2 



* MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

and Navarre, to all who shall see and hear these 
presents, greeting. As amongst other things 
whereby kings reign, and kingdoms are governed, 
a meet and necessary thing it is, that princes 
should ally themselves together by bond of friend- 
ship and good-will, in order, the grievances of 
those who desire to grieve them, more forcibly to 
restrain ; and the tranquillity of them, and of their 
subjects, more peaceably to secure ; we, having 
this in regard, are willing to renew by treaty the 
friendship and good-will, which have long sub- 
sisted between our predecessors Kings of France 
and our kingdom, on one part, and the Kings of 
Scotland and the said kingdom of Scotland on the 
other, with the noble Prince Robert, by the grace 
of God, King of Scotland, our special friend, 
against the King of England, whose predecessors 
have often laboured to aggrieve the said kingdoms 
of France and Scotland in many and sundry ways, 
And this we do by these envoys, namely, 
Thomas Ranulph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Walls, 
Annand, and Man, Mr. James Dun, Archdeacon 
of St. Andrews, doctor of laws, Adam Moray, 
doctor in canon law, and Walter Tyntham, canon 
of Glasgow, all vested with special power in form 
following : " Universis praesentes literas inspectu- 
ris, Robertus Dei gratia rex Scotorum, salutem. 
Noverit universitas, quod nos facimus, constitui- 
mus, et per praesentes ordinamus, dilectos et fide- 
les nostros Thomam Ranulphi comitem Moraviae, 
dominum Vallis, Annandi et Manni, nepotem nos- 
trum carissimum, Robertum de Keth marischallum 
Scotiae, magistros Jacobum Dun archidiaconum 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. S 

Sancti Andreae, legum professorem, Adamum de 
Moravia decretorum doctorem, et Walterum de 
Tintham canonicura ecclesiae Glascoensis, procu- 
ratores nostros et nuncios speciales, ad tractandum 
cum serenissimo principe domino Carolo, Dei gra- 
tia Franciae et Navarrae regi illustri, super quibus- 
cumque confcederationibus inter ipsum, haeredes 
suos, proceres et regnicolas regni sui, ex parte una, 
et nos, haeredes nostros, proceres et regnicolas 
regni nostri, ex altera, ineundis ; dantes iisdem, et 
dicto comiti, cum quatuor, tribus, duobus, aut uno 
eorumdem, plenariam, generalem et liberam potes?- 
tatem, ac speciale mandatum, cum eodem serenis- 
simo principe, seu quibuscumque ejus potestatem 
ad haec habentibus, cujuscumque status, condi- 
tionis aut dignitatis, existant, tractandi, paciscendi, 
firmandi, et wallandi, nomine nostro et regni nos- 
tri, quascumque confoederationes, obligationes, et 
facta, quibus inter eumdem regem illustrem, hae- 
redes suos, et proceres et regnicolas regni nostri, 
perpetuae confcederationis et amicitiae secura firmi- 
tas poterit concordari ; ratum et gratum habentes 
et habituri pro nobis et haeredibus nostris, proce- 
ribus et regnicolis nostris regni, quicquid iidem, 
aut dictus comes, cum quatuor, tribus, duobus, 
aut uno eorumdem, cum eodem domino rege, vel 
ejus potestatem habentibus, faciendum duxerint 
vel duxerit in praemissis. In cujus rei testimonium, 
prassentibus iiteris sigillum nostrum praecipimus 
apponi. Datum apud Donde vigesimo die Aprilis, 
annogratiae millesimotrecentesimovicesimoquinto; 
et anno regni nostri vicesimo." [To all who shall 
behold these presents, Robert, by the grace of 

3 



b MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

God, King of Scots, greeting. Be it known to all 
men, that we make, constitute, and by these pre- 
sents appoint, our trusty and well-beloved Thomas 
Ranulph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Walls, Annand, 
and Man, our most dear nephew, Robert of Keith, 
Marischal of Scotland, Masters James Dun, Arch- 
deacon of St. Andrews, professor of laws, Adam 
of Moray, doctor in canon law, and Walter of 
Tyntham, canon of the church of Glasgow, our 
procurators and special envoys, to treat with the 
most serene Prince Charles, by the grace of God, 
of France and Navarre illustrious King, concern- 
ing any alliances or engagements whatsoever to be 
made between himself, his heirs, his nobles, and 
his people, on one part, and us, our heirs, our 
nobles, and our people, on the other; granting to 
the same, and to the said Earl, together with any 
four, three, two, or one of the same, full, general, 
and free power, and special warrant, to treat, sti- 
pulate, confirm, and corroborate with the same 
most serene Prince, or any persons vested with his 
power for this purpose, of what station, condition, 
or dignity soever, in our name, and in name of our 
kingdom, any alliances, obligations, and deeds, 
whereby the perpetual alliance and friendship be- 
tween the same illustrious King, his heirs, and 
his nobles, and the inhabitants of our kingdom, 
may be firmly and securely cemented ; holding 
and to hold valid and valuable, for ourselves and 
our heirs, our peers, and our people, whatsoever 
the same, or the said Earl, with any four, three, 
two, or one of the same, shall judge meet to be 
done in the premises, with the same king or his 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. / 

plenipotentiaries. In testimony whereof, we com- 
mand our seal to be appended to these presents. 
Given at Dundee, on the twentieth day of April, 
in the vear of grace one thousand three hundred 
and twenty-five, and in the twentieth year of our 
reign.] 

We have made alliance in manner following, to 
wit, that we, our heirs, our successors Kings of 
France, our kingdom, and our whole community, 
are bound and obliged to the said King of Scot- 
land, his heirs, his successors Kings of Scotland, 
his kingdom, and his whole community, in good 
faith, as loyal allies, whenever they shall have oc- 
casion for aid or advice, in time of peace or war, 
against the King of England and his subjects : 
that we shall aid and advise them, whereinsoever 
we honestly can as loyal allies ; and if we, our 
heirs, our successors Kings of France, our king- 
dom, or our community, shall make peace or truce 
with the King of England, his heirs Kings of Eng- 
land, or his subjects, that the King of Scotland, 
his heirs, his successors Kings of Scotland, his 
kingdom, and his community, shall be excepted ; 
so that such peace or truce shall be null, whenso- 
ever war is waged between the aforesaid Kings of 
Scotland and of England : and, if the King of 
Scotland, his heirs, his successors Kings of Scot- 
land, his kingdom, and his community, shall make 
peace or truce with the King of England and his 
subjects, that we, our heirs, our successors Kings 
of France, our kingdom, and our whole commu* 
nity, shall be excepted ; so that such peace or 
truce shall be null, whensoever war is waged be- 



8 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

tween us and the said King of England : and the 
said King of Scotland, his heirs and successors 
Kings of Scotland, shall be bound and obliged to 
us, our heirs, our successor Kings, and our king- 
dom, to make war upon the kingdom of England 
with all their force, whensoever war is waged be- 
tween us and the King of England ; the truces 
between the said Kings of England and Scotland, 
already made and pending, in what manner soever 
concluded, all and every part of them firmly pre- 
served and faithfully performed. We promise, in 
good faith, to the said procurators, in name pro- 
curatorial of the said King of Scotland, both for 
him, ourselves, our heirs, and our successor Kings, 
our kingdom, and our whole community, in terms 
of the abovesaid, inviolably obliging, all and every 
one of the said articles firmly to observe, faithfully 
to perform, and fully to accomplish. AH this we 
promise in good faith, as it concerns us, our heirs, 
our successor Kings, and our kingdom ; and all 
this hath our beloved and trusty counsellor, Guy- 
chender, sworn in our presence, and on our soul 
upon the holy gospels, at our command ; and 
this oath, on the soul of the King of Scotland, for 
him, his heirs, his successors, and his kingdom, 
hath the Earl of Moray, nephew to the King of 
Scotland, taken according to special commission, 
whereof the form is this : " Universis Christi fide- 
libus, ad quorum novitiam praesentes literae per- 
venerint, Robertus Dei gratia rex Scotorum, 
salutem in Dcmino sempiternarn. Noveritis nos, 
per proesentes literas, dedisse plenariam potesta- 
temet speciale mandatum Thomae Ranulphi comiti 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. V 

Moraviae, el domino Vallis, Annandi et Manni, 
nepoti nostro carissimo, ad jurandum in animara 
nostram super quibuseunque confoederationibus, 
obligationibus, seu pactis, inter serenissimura prin- 
cipem dominum Carolum Dei gratia regem Fran- 
ciae et Navarrae illustrem, haeredes suos, proceres 
et regnicolas regni sui, ex parte una, et nos, hae- 
redes nostros, proceres et regnicolas regni nostri, 
ex altera, firmius ineundis ; et quicquid dictus 
comes, jurando in animam nostram, in dicto nego- 
tio, firmaverit, nos ratum et firmum perpetuo habi- 
turi promittimus bona fide. In cujus rei testimo- 
nium, praesentibus Uteris sigillum nostrum praeci- 
pimus apponi. Datum apud Donde vicesimo die 
Aprilis, anno gratiae millesimo trecentesimo vice- 
simo quinto, et anno regni vicesimo." [To all the 
faithful in Christ, unto whose knowledge these 
presents shall come, Robert, by the grace of God, 
King of Scots, sendeth eternal health in the Lord. 
Be it known to you, that we, by these presents, 
have given full power and special mandate to 
Thomas Ranulph, Earl of Moray, and Lord of 
Walls, Annand, and Man, our most dear nephew, 
to swear upon our soul to the more firmly estab- 
lishing any alliances, obligations, or conventions, 
whatsoever, between the most serene Prince Charles, 
by the grace of God, of France and Navarre illus- 
trious King, his heirs, his nobles, and his people, 
on one part, and us, our heirs, our nobles, and 
our people, on the other ; and whatsoever the 
said Earl, by swearing upon our soul, shall in the 
said negotiation establish, we promise, in good 
faith, to hold ratified and confirmed for ever. In 



10 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

testimony whereof, we command our seal to be ap- 
pended to these presents. Given at Dundee on 
the twentieth day of April, in the year of grace 
one thousand three hundred twenty-five, and in 
the twentieth year of our reign.] 

And, to the end that this thing may be firm and 
stable in all time coming, we have caused our seal 
tojbe affixed to these presents. Given at Courbeny, 
in the year of grace one thousand three hundred 
and twenty-six, in the month of April. 

Renewal of the alliance of France and Scotland, 
between Charles, Dauphin of France, (King John 
his father being prisoner inEngland,) and David II. 
King of Scotland, at Paris, June 29, 1359. * 

Renewal of the said alliance between the Kings 
Charles V. of France, and Robert II. of Scotland, 
at Vincennes, June 3, 1371. + 

Renewal of the said alliance between Charles VI. 
King of France, and Robert III. King of Scot- 
land, March 3, 1390. J 

Renewal of the said alliance between the said 
Charles VI. King of France, and Robert Duke of 
Albany, Regent of Scotland during the captivity 
of King James I. in 1407. 

Renewal of the said alliance between Charles VII. 
King of France, and Murdoch Duke of Albany, 
Regent of Scotland, in 1423. § 

Renewal of the said alliance between Charles 
VII. King of France, and James I. King of Scot- 
land, in 1428. || 



* Du Tillet's collection of treaties, p. 80 — t P« 98 — + P- ] 1 6 ' 
— § p. 137.— 1| p* 135. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 11 

Renewal of the said alliance between the same 
Charles VII- King of France, and James II. King 
of Scotland, in 1448. * 

Renewal of the said alliance between Charles 
VIII. King of France, and James IV. King of 
Scotland, in 1491. f 

Renewal of the said alliance between Lewis XII. 
King of France, and the same James IV. King of 
Scotland, in 1512. J 

Renewal of the said alliance between Francis I. 
King of France, and James V. King of Scotland, 
in 1515. § 

Renewal of the said alliance between Francis I. 
King of France and Mary Queen of Scotland, in 
1543. || 

This same alliance was again renewed between 
Henry II. King of France, and Mary Queen of 
Scotland, and between the succeeding Kings. 

To strengthen these alliances by stricter ties, 
the royal families of France and Scotland have 
been several times united by marriage. 

The contracts are extant of the following. 

Contract of marriage between Edward Baliol, 
son and heir to John King of Scotland, and Joan 
daughter to Charles de Valois, brother of King 
Philip the Fair, in 1235. «f[ 

Contract of marriage between Lewis Dauphin 
of France, afterwards Lewis XI. and Margaret 
daughter to James I. King of Scotland, in 1436. ** 



* P. 140 — fp. 149 — i Collection »f the treaties of France 
and Scotland — § Du Tillet's collection, p. 164 — 1| Collection of 
treaties between France and Scotland. — % Rymer, feed. Angl. 
torn. 2, p. 697, and 698.—** Du Tillet's col. p. 137. 



12 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

Contract of marriage between James V. King of 
Scotland, and Magdalen daughter to King Francis 
I. in 1536. 

Contract * of marriage between Francis Dauphin, 
afterwards Francis II. King of France, and Mary 
Queen heiress of Scotland, in 1558, -f* 



CHAP. II. 

SERVICES DONE TO FRANCE BY THE SCOTS. 

ONE of the principal effects of this ancient alli- 
ance was the mutual succour which the two nations 
engaged to give each other against the English 
their common enemy ; and it was in consequence 
of this engagement that the Scots rendered so great 
services to France, especially in the fourteenth 
century, whither by sending the flower of their 
bravest men into France, to succour its inhabi- 
tants against the English, almost masters of the 
kingdom, or by attacking England with all their 
force, on the side of Scotland, as oft as the English 
passed the sea to attack France. 

In 1346, after the fatal battle of Crecy, (or Cres- 
si,) in order to check the victorious English, to pre- 
vent their pushing their conquests in France, and 
to make a diversion there, David II. King of Scot- 
land, attacked England, and ravaged all the north 
of it, where, losing a bloody battle, he was defeated 
and taken, and, after ten years captivity, obliged 
to find a ransom, t 



* Printed by Leonard. — f Mem. Scot. torn. 1, p. 37. 
— ± Froissard. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 13 

This did not hinder the kings his successors from 
continuing to attack England, in order to stop the 
irruptions of the English into France. But it 
was chiefly at the time when the French monarchy, 
within a hairbreadth of its overthrow, when the 
English, through the weakness of King Charles VI. 
and the help of the Burgundians, were masters of 
almost the whole kingdom, and when their Henry 
VI. was crowned at Paris King of France; it was, 
I say, chiefly in this extremity, that the Scots sent, 
time after time, of their first nobility, with the 
flower of the troops of Scotland, to support the just 
right of the Dauphin of France, sole lawful heir of 
the crown, but then proscribed and abandoned by 
the greater part of his French subjects, and by 
almost all the other allies of the crown. 

For, in 1420, Robert Duke of Albany, Regent 
of Scotland, sent to the Dauphin's assistance John 
Earl of Buchan, his son, with Archibald Douglas 
Earl of Wigtoun, John Stewart of Darnly, and 
other nobility, at the head of a considerable body 
of troops, by whose aid the English were defeated 
at Beauge, in a bloody battle, where the Earl of 
Clarence, brother to the King of England, the 
Earl of Kent, and a great number of the English 
nobility were killed, and many others made pri- 
soners. * 

In the year 1422, the Earl of Douglas, at the 
he&d of a new reinforcement of five thousand Scots, 
arrived in France to the aid of the Dauphin, ac- 



* Hist. D'Alait. chart, p. 49. David Cham. 177. Tillet's 
Treaties of Trance and England, p. 126. 

B 



14 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

knowledged King, since the death of his father, 
by the name of Charles VII. and after most of his 
troops had been cut off in the battle of Devreuil. * 

In 1424, their came again fresh troops from 
Scotland to the succour of Charles VII. under the 
command of Robert Petilloch, (or perhaps Pat- 
tulloh,) a great captain in those days, -f- 

In 1428, the same King Charles VII. pressed 
on all sides by the English and other enemies of 
the French monarchy, sent, to seek new aid of 
King James I. of Scotland, the Archbishop of 
Rheims, with* John Stewart of Aubigny, and to 
ask in marriage the Princess Margaret, King 
James's eldest daughter, for his son Lewis, Dau- 
phin of France. All was granted him; the an- 
cient alliances were renewed, and the Lord of 
Aubigny repassed into France with fresh troops. 
But the Princess being yet too young, as well as 
the Dauphin, she went to France only in 1436, 
well attended by nobility and reinforcements. 

In fine, King Lewis XII. in his letters-patents J 
of the privileges of the Scots in France, extols the 
service which the Scots did in the expulsion of the 
English, in these terms. * Lastly, and in the life- 
time of our late most dear lord and cousin King 
Charles VII. (whom God absolve*,) several princes 
of the said kingdom of Scotland, with a great num- 
ber of people of the said nation, came over to help 
to cast and expel forth of this kingdom, the English, 
who held and occupied most part of the realm, and 



* Al. chart, histof Charles VII. p. 85. David Cham. p. 177. 
— f Da. Cham. p. 178. — J See these letters in the sequel. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 15 

so valorously exposed their persons against the said 
English, that these were driven out, and the said 
realm restored to his obedience, &c." And, after 
the reduction of France to the obedience of its law- 
ful sovereign, the Scots continued to send succours 
into France, and to attack England, in order to 
make a diversion, as often as the kings of France 
should require it; besides that, there were some of 
the best families of Scotland destined solely to the 
service of France. Thus we see the lords of Au- 
bigny, Stewart, John, Robert, Bernard, (called 
also Berald,) and others of that family, in the ser- 
vice of France, under Charles VIII. Lewis XII. 
and in the following reigns ; especially in the wars 
of Italy, where they distinguished themselves at 
the battle of Fornova, and in the kingdom of 
Naples. 

-In 1507, by the relation of Claud Seysil, Arch- 
bishop of Turin, a contemporary author, King 
James IV. on occasion of the wars of King Lewis 
XII. in Italy, sent to him, and offered to come in 
person to serve him with ten or twenty thousand 
fighting men. * And the sameKmg James,in 1513, 
having learned that France was attacked by the 
Emperor and the King of England conjunctly, in 
order to make a diversion, (as the same King Lewis 
XII. observes, -f-) attacked on his side England 
with all his force, though King Henry VIII. was 
his brother-in-law, and obliged him to send back 
part of his troops into England ; whereupon fol- 



* SeysiL hist, of Lewis XII. p. 142.— f In his let. pat. as 
after. 



16 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

lowed the fatal battle of Plowden between the 
English and Scots, in which King James lost his 
life, with the flower of the Scots, solely in the quar- 
rel of France. 

Lastly, in 1548, the preference which the Scots 
made of the alliance of France to that of England, 
for the marriage of the young Queen Mary, heiress 
of Scotland, involved that kingdom in a war of 
about twenty years with England, which was fol- 
lowed by an infinity of mischiefs, and ended at last 
in the ruin of the Roman catholic religion in Scot- 
land. 



CHAP. III. 

REWARDS OF SERVICES GRANTED BY THE KINGS OF 
FRANCE TO THE SCOTS. 

IT was by reason of the ancient alliances be- 
tween the two kingdoms, and as it were in compen- 
sation of the services done to France, and of the 
losses in consequence sustained by the Scots, that 
the kings of France behaved to the Scots as if they 
had been their own native subjects. 1. To par- 
ticular persons, by promoting or admitting them 
to &11 manner of dignities, honours, and offices, 
military, civil, and ecclesiastical. 2. By commit- 
ing to the Scots the guard of their own royal per- 
sons with singular prerogatives. 3. By granting 
to all Scots, in general, letters of naturalization, 
and regarding them as real denizens of their king- 
dom. 4. By granting particular exemptions of 
duties to all the Scottish merchants in France. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 17 

£ution tfitzt 

DIGNITIES, OFFICES, HONOURS, AND LANDS, CONFERRED 
UPON THE SCOTS IN FRANCE. 

In 1422, John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, was 
made Constable of France, after the battle of 
Beauge, by King Charles VII. and lost his life in 
his service at the battle of Verneuil. * 

In 1423, Archibald Earl of Douglas was crea- 
ted Duke of Tourain by the same king, and sacri- 
ficed his life in the same battle, -f* 

In 1424, the same king gratified John Stewart 
of Darnly, Constable of the Scots in France, with 
the lordship of Aubigny, J which continued down 
to our days, in his descendants dukes of Lennox, 
until the very extinction of the family. Charles 
VII. gave him also the county of Dreux, and made 
him a Marshal of France. § His descendants lords 
of Aubigny, John and Bernard, (known by the 
name of Berald,) merited like honours by their 
services, and the lords of that family were in a 
manner hereditary captains of the Scots guards. |j 

In 1428, Charles VII. gave to James I. King 
of Scotland, the county of Xaintonge and Roch- 
fort in peerage. ^[ 

About the same time the same king made the 
Laird of Monypenny his chamberlain, and gave 
him the lordship of Concressant. 



* Al. Chart, hist, of Charles VII. p. 53 + p. 59. Du Till. 

.coll. p. 135 — + Ibid — § p. 137 || Hist, of Charles VIII. edit. 

Godfrey, p. 384, 385.—^ Du Till. coll. p. 137. 

3 



18 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

In 1495, the Lord of Aubigny was made Gover- 
nor of Calabria by King Charles VIII. * 

In 1524, John Stewart Duke of Albany, had a 
seat in the parliament of Paris, by command of 
Francis I. before the dukes and peers, -f- He was 
appointed Viceroy of Naples, General of fhe gal- 
leys of France, and Governor of the Bourbonese, 
of Auvergne, and of other provinces. J 

About the same time, Robert Stewart of Au- 
bigny, was made a Marshal of France. 

In 1548, King Henry I. gave the duchy of 
Chatelherault to James Hamilton Earl of Arran, 
Regent of Scotland, and presented him with the 
collar of his order, which that king sent also to the 
Earls of Huntly, Argyll, and Angus. § 

With regard to offices, the Scots have exercised 
some of the most considerable in France. || Mr. 
Servien, a famous advocate under Henry III. in 
his pleading before the parliament of Paris, relates 
that Mr. Turnbull, a Scotsman, was a judge in 
the same parliament, and afterwards first president 
of the parliament of Rouen : Adam Blackwood 
was a judge on the bench of Poitiers, and others 
in courts of justice. 

The Scots have also possessed in France some 
of the first dignities of the church. Andrew Fore- 
man was Archbishop of Bourges, David Bethune, 
Bishop of Mirepoix, David Panter, (or perhaps 
Panton,) and after him James Bethune Bishop of 



* Daniel's hist, of France, Lond. edit. 2d. p. 134.— + Ba- 
luze hist, de la tour d' Auvergne, vol. ii. p. 688. — J Same hist, 
vol. i. p. 353, 354, &c — § Tit. du duche' de Chat. p. 1, 3. 2d. 
edit. p. 10 || Serv. plead, printed in 1586, p. 21. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 19 

Glasgow, were successively Abbots of L' Absie, be- 
sides a great number of priors, canons, curates, 
and other beneficed persons in France. And it is 
remarkable, that, in the year 1586, the cure of St, 
Come at Paris, conferred by the university upon 
John Hamilton, having been disputed him by a 
French ecclesiastic, who protested against Hamil- 
ton as being a Scotsman, Hamilton^ cause was 
pleaded, in the parliament of Paris, by Mr. Ser- 
vien advocate in parliament, who proved that the 
Scots enjoyed the right of denizens, and in conse- 
quence, by decree of the court, the provisional 
possession of the cure was adjudged to Hamilton. * 
And, in the university of Paris, the Scots made 
formerly so considerable a figure, that one of the 
four nations, of whom the faculty of arts is compo- 
sed, which is now called the German nation, was 
formerly styled " natio Germanorum et Scotorum ;" 
and besides a great number of doctors and profes- 
sors in all the faculties, we find still, upon the re- 
cords of the university, that there have been thirty 
rectors of the university all Scotsmen, in times 
when the office of rector was much more considera- 
ble, both in church and state, than it is at present. 

&tttUm ^etottif* 

OF THE SCOTS GUARDS. 

Nothing shows better the consideration which 
the kings of France had for the Scots, and the en- 
tire confidence they placed in their fidelity, than 

*Serv. plead. 1580. 



20 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

the choice they made of them for the guard of 
their sacred persons. 

With regard to the establishment of the Scots 
guards, Scottish writers refer its beginning to the 
reign of St. Lewis, others to King Charles V. But 
it is allowed that it was King Charles VII. who 
gave them the form in which they have since pre- 
served themselves. King Lewis XII. in his letters- 
patents * of naturalization to the Scots, speaks of 
this establishment in the following manner : after 
having set forth, in terms the most honourable to 
the nation, the service which the Scots did to King 
Charles VII. in the expulsion of the English out of 
France, and in the reduction of the kingdom to his 
obedience, he adds, " Since which reduction, and 
for the service the Scots rendered to Charles VII. 
upon that occasion, for the great loyalty and vir- 
tue which he found in them, he selected two hun- 
dred of them for the guard of his person, of whom 
he made an hundred men at arms, and an hundred 
lifeguards. And the said hundred men at arms 
are the hundred lances of our ancient ordinances; 
andlhe lifeguard-men are those of our guard, who 
still are near and about our person." 

With respect to the fidelity of the Scots in that* 
honourable post, take here the testimony bore them 
by Claud Seysil, Master of Requests to the same 
I ewis XII. and afterwards Archbishop of Turin, 
in his history of that prince where speaking of 
Scotland, he says, " The French have so ancient a 
friendship and alliance with the Scots, that, of four 

* "Which see after. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 21 

hundred men appropriated for the king's lifeguard, 
there are an hundred of the said nation who are 
the nearest to his person, and in the night keep 
the keys of the apartment where he sleeps. There 
are, moreover, an hundred complete lances, and 
two hundred yeomen of the said nation, beside 
several that are dispersed through the companies : 
and for so long a time as they have served in France, 
never hath there been one of them found that hath 
committed or done any fault against the kings or 
their state ; and they can make use of them as of 
their own subjects." 

The ancient rights and prerogatives of the Scot- 
tish lifeguards were very honourable. Here fol- 
lows the description which those same Scots guards 
give of the functions and prerogatives of their com- 
pany, and especially of the 24 first guards ; to 
whom the first Gendarme of France being added, 
they make up the number of 25, commonly called 
" Gardes de Manche," sleeve-guards, who were all 
Scots by nation. 

Two of them assisting at mass, sermon, vespers, 
and ordinary meals ; on high holidays at the cere- 
mony of the royal touch, and the erection of 
knights of the king's order, at the reception of ex- 
traordinary ambassadors, and public entries of 
cities, there must be six of their number next to 
the king's person, three on each side of his majesty ; 
and the body of the king must be carried by these 
only, wheresoever ceremony requires, and his effigy 
must be attended by them. They have the keep- 
ing of the keys of the king's lodging at night, the 
keeping of the choir of the church, the keeping of 



22 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

the boats when the king passes the rivers, the ho- 
nour of bearing the white silk fringe in their arms, 
which is the coronal colour in France ; the keys of 
all the cities where the king makes his entry given 
to their captain in waiting or out of waiting. He 
has the privilege in waiting, or out of waiting, at 
ceremonies, such as coronations, marriages, funerals 
of the kings, baptisms and marriages of their chil- 
dren, to take duty upon him ; the coronation-robe 
belongs to him ; and this company by the death or 
change of a captain, never changes its rank, as do 
the three others. 

This company was heretofore wholly composed 
of Scotsmen. But as, in the reign of Henry II. 
several French, or others than Scots, had been ad- 
mitted there, as well as among the Scots Gendarmes, 
that prince, at the solicitation of the deputies of 
the states of Scotland, gave a breviate, of which the 
original is extant, signed by the king's own hand, 
bearing date June 28, 1558, whereby his majesty 
promises that he shall not allow any person to en- 
ter there, who is not a gentleman of the said nation 
of Scotland, and sprung from a good family, &c. * 

This regulation did not hinder afterwards others 
than Scots from being sometimes admitted, as ap- 
pears by the remonstrances made upon that sub- 
ject, from time to time, by the queen-mother, and 
her son James VI. and by the privy council of 
Scotland, in the roll of the year 1599, given in by 
the captain of the Scots guards to the chamber of 
accounts. Three fourths of the yeomen, as well of 
the body as of the sleeve, were still, however, Scots. 

* Mem. Scot. torn. 1, p. 78. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 23 

It was but afterwards, and by degrees, that this 
company became filled with French, to the exclu- 
sion of Scotsmen : so that at last there remained no 
more than the name, and the answer, when called, 
/ am here. 

gtttion Cfctrtr. 

LETTERS OP NATURALIZATION FOR ALL SCOTSMEN GRANTED 
OR CONFIRMED BY THE KINGS OF FRANCE. 

The first letters known of naturalization to the 
Scots, were granted by King Lewis XII. at the 
instance of Andrew Foreman, Bishop of Moray in 
Scotland, and Archbishop of Bourges. They were 
given at Amiens in the month of September, 1513. 
A copy will be found in the sequel. 

In 1547, Henry II. granted letters of naturaliza- 
tion to the Scots guards in particular, given at 
Fontainebleau in the month of November, 1548, at 
the exchequer-chamber, on the 12th of February, 

The same King Henry II granted new letters- 
patents of naturalization for all Scotsmen, at the 
instance of James Bethune, Archbishop of Glas- 
gow, and other deputies of the states of Scotland, 
for the marriage of Queen Mary and the Dauphin. 
The letters are given at Villiers-couterets, in June, 
1558, registered, with some modifications, in the 
parliament of Paris July the 1 1th, at the exchequer- 
chamber the 13th of July, and in the grand council 
the 19th of the said month of July. The copy 
here afterwards inserted, was made from an authen- 
tic duplicate signed by the hand of Mr Du Tillet, 



24 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

clerk of parliament. The charter is also printed in 
the Scots acts of parliament. 

King Henry IV. confirmed, at the instance of 
the same James Bethune, Archbishop of Glasgow, 
ambassador from Scotland, the right of naturaliza- 
tion to all Scots, by his letters-patents, given at 
Fontainebleau in the month of March, 1599, regis- 
tered in the parliament of Paris, with some modi- 
fications, the 31st of July, in the said year. The 
copy, to be found in the sequel, is done from a 
copy collated before notaries. 

In 1612, the same privileges were confirmed to 
the Scots by King Lewis XIII. in his letters-pa- 
tents, given at Paris in the month of October, 1612, 
registered in parliament, with some modifications, 
December 15th, and in the treasury-books the 20th 
of the said month. 

The copy we shall afterwards give is taken from 
a copy collated before notaries. 

It appears also by an act of Lewis XIV.'s coun- 
cil of state, that his majesty had confirmed the an- 
cient privileges of the Scots since his accession to 
the crown, and, in consequence, he discharged 
them of the taxes imposed upon foreigners. 

This act was issued, at Fontainebleau, the 19th 
of September, 1646. A copy of it will be found 
in the sequel. 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 25 



&tttion tftmvfi); 

LETTERS-PATENTS CONTAINING THE PRIVILEGES OF THE 
SCOTTISH MERCHANTS TRADING IN FRANCE, GRANTED OR 
CONFIRMED BY THE KINGS OF FRANCE, AND OF WHICH 
THE COPIES ARE IN THE SEQUEL. 

1. Letters-patents of King Francis I. contain- 
ing the privileges of the Scottish merchants, given 
at Amboise in the month of May, 1518. 

2. Letters-patents of King Henry II. to con- 
firm the same privileges, given at Paris the 3d of 
February, 1554. 

Confirmation of the privileges by King Henry 
IV. in his letters-patents given at Fontainebleau 
in the month of March, 1599. This copy is done 
from a copy collated with the original in parch- 
ment. 

Letters of general naturalization for the whole 
Scottish nation in France, by King Lewis XII. in 
1513. 

Lewis, by the grace of God, King of France, 
Be it known to all present and to come, that as 5 
in all time and antiquity, between the kings of 
France and Scotland, and the princes and subjects 
of the two kingdoms, a most strict friendship, con- 
federacy, and perpetual alliance, have subsisted 
and by these are both the kings bound to succour 
each other, towards and against all, and so against 
their ancient enemies the English, which they have 
done several times ; and, latterly, during the life 
our late most dear lord and cousin King Charles 
VII. (whom God absolve,) several princes of the 

C 



26 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

said kingdom of Scotland, with a great number of 
the said nation, came over to help to cast and ex- 
pel forth of the kingdom the English, who held 
and occupied great part thereof; which friends ex- 
posed their persons so valourously against the 
English, that they were driven out, and the said 
kingdom reduced unto his obedience ; since which 
reduction, and for the service they did him upon 
that occasion, the great loyalty and virtue he found 
in them, he selected two hundred of them for the 
guard of his person, of whom he made an hundred 
men at arms, and an hundred lifeguard-men ; and 
the said hundred men at arms are the hundred 
lances ofour ancient ordinances ; and the lifeguard- 
men are those of our guard, who still are near and 
about our person. And forasmuch as our beloved 
and trusty counsellor the Archbishop of Bourges, 
Bishop of Moray, now ambassador with us, from 
our most dear and most beloved brother, cousin, 
and ally, the King of Scotland still reigning, and 
our beloved and trusty counsellor and chamber- 
lain, Sir Robert Stewart Lord of Aubigny, Cap- 
tain of our Scottish guard, and of the hundred 
lances of our said ancient ordinances of the said 
nation, have remonstrated to us how much it hath 
been always desired, that the Scots, when called to 
our said kingdom of France, and our subjects who 
might go to live in that of Scotland, or might de- 
cease there, on the account of trade or otherwise, 
should be enabled to testate and dispose of their 
effects to their respective heirs, and so indeed hath 
this been hitherto observed in the said kingdom of 
Scotland : as to our subjects, however, those of 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 27 

the said nation of Scotland are obliged, as well 
such as are in our service of our said guard, as 
men at arms, and others whatsoever of that nation 
who are on this side, to take out particular letters 
of naturalization, and leave to testate and dispose 
of their effects, which they must have verified in 
our exchequer-chamber at Paris, by our commis- 
sioners of the treasury of France, and other our 
officers, with great pain and labour, otherwise their 
wives, children, or heirs, would be frustrated of 
their effects, and we make gifts of them as of foreign 
property, to their great grievance, prejudice, and 
damage : requiring us, by the said ambassadors 
and the Sieur d'Aubigny, that having this in re- 
gard, as well as the perpetual fellowship, con- 
federacy, and alliance, between us and the said 
king of Scotland, our kingdoms and subjects, 
which hath been lately confirmed and sworn, our 
pleasure may be to grant general letters to all those 
of the said nation, and thereby to declare, that we 
hold, deem, and repute them in all things as true 
and original natives of our said kingdom, and fully 
impowered to testate and dispose of their effects ; 
as also that, in case of their dying intestate, their 
children and other heirs may succeed them, and be 
enabled to hold all estates, offices, benefices, as any 
others in our said kingdom, and hereupon to im- 
part unto them our grace. 

Whereby we, the abovesaid things considered, 
and the good and indissoluble fellowship, confedera- 
cy and perpetual alliance which hath always sub- 
sisted, and doth still subsist between us and the 
said kings of Scotland, our respective kingdoms 

2 



28 MEMOIRS OP THE ALLIANCE 

and subjects, inviolably to be kept and observed, 
having regard to the signal services which the said 
kings of Scotland have heretofore done to our said 
predecessors, in the expulsion of our said enemies, 
to the great loyalty and fidelity which hath been 
always and invariably found in them, and those of 
their said nation, towards us, and particularly to 
the most signal, laudable and commendable service 
which our said good brother, cousin and ally, the 
present king of Scotland, is actually doing us, as it 
is notorious, that, in pursuance of our said friend- 
ship, fellowship, confederacy and alliance, he hath 
voluntarily declared for us against the king of 
England his brother-in-law, who is at present in 
our said kingdom \ and, moreover, hath sent us 
succours and arms by gea, of great numbers of 
ships and men of war, which is so timely a service, 
as well requires that his subjects be for ever re- 
commended and favoured in our said kingdom. 
For these, and other just and reasonable causes 
thereunto us moving, we have resolved to declare 
and ordain, and, by the tenor of these presents, do 
will, declare, ordain, and please, from our own 
knowledge, proper motion, special grace, full power 
and royal authority, that henceforth, perpetually, 
and for ever, all those of the said kingdom of Scot- 
land, who shall reside, or come to reside, and shall 
hereafter decease in our said kingdoms, countries 
and seignories, of what station soever they be, 
or supposing they should be neither residents nor 
inhabitants in our said kingdom, countries and 
seignories, they shall be capable of acquiring there- 
in all estates, seignories and possessions which they 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 29 

may lawfully acquire ; and of them, together with 
those which they may have already acquired, to 
testate and dispose, by testament and order of latter- 
will, living donation, or otherwise, at their will and 
pleasure ; and that their wives and children, if 
they have any, or other their heirs, in what place 
soever they be residing, whether in our kingdom, 
or elsewhere, may, by testament or otherwise, take 
and inherit their estates and successions, as if they 
were natives of our said kingdom : and to those of 
the said nation, disposed to the church, shall be 
open all benefices and dignities secular or regular, 
with which they may be justly and canonically 
invested, by titles, collations, or provisions, (not 
derogating from the holy decrees of Basle, the 
pragmatic sanction, and the privileges of the Galli- 
cian church,) and they shall, in like manner, be 
able to dispose of their said property, as said is ; 
and that in all things those of the said nation be 
treated, favoured, held, deemed, and reputed, for 
ever, as true originals of our said kingdom : and 
to this end we have enabled, and do enable them, 
we have dispensed, and do dispense our grace, by 
these said presents, and that without their being 
obliged, for the abovesaid things, either now or 
hereafter, to take out particular letters of natu- 
ralization, and leave to testate, other than these 
presents, nor therefore to pay us any finances, 
which finances we have given and discharged, and 
do give and discharge them of our said grace, by 
these said presents signed under our hand, to what- 
ever value they do or may amount : provided al- 
ways that the said king of Scotland, and his suc- 

3 



30 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

cessors, shall grant and allow such and like privi- 
leges to our subjects in their said kingdom. And 
that this they may enjoy in form and manner as 
above, we do therefore give command, by these 
same presents, to our beloved and trusty the mem- 
bers of our courts of parliament at Paris, bailiffs, 
seneschals, and provosts of our kingdom, and to 
all our other justiciaries and officers, and to their 
substitutes, present and to come, to each and every 
one of them, that our present graces, privileges, 
ordinances, edicts, declarations and vouchsafement, 
they cause, suffer, and allow, those of the said na- 
tion of Scotland, plenarily and peaceably, as afore- 
said, to enjoy and use ; ceasing, or causing to cease 
all lets and hinderances that may be made, given or 
offered to the contrary whatsoever. For such is 
our pleasure. Notwithstanding that the said finan- 
ces of the said letters of naturalization are not here 
declared, let no discharge be levied by the cashier 
of our treasury, any ordinances, restrictions, com- 
mands or prohibitions whatsoever to the contrary 
notwithstanding. And whereas there may be oc- 
casion for these presents in divers and several 
places, it is our will, that, upon sight thereof, un- 
der the seal royal, credit be given as to this present 
original ; whereunto, that it may be a deed sure 
and stable for ever, we have caused our seal to be 
affixed, saving in all else our right, and that of 
others in all. Given at Amiens, in the month Sep- 
tember, of the year one thousand five hundred and 
thirteen, and of our reign the thirteenth. Signed 
Lewis. And upon the fold, by the king, the Car- 
dinal de Prie, the Bishop of Paris, Mr. Pierre de 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 31 

la Vernade master of the ordinary requests * of 
the household, and by others present. Signed 
Gedoyn, and sealed with a great seal of green 
wax, pendant to a string of red and green silk. 

Letters-patents of King Henry II. containing the pri- 
vileges of the Scots in France, in the year 1558. 

Henry, by the grace of God, King of France, 
unto all present and to come, greeting. 

Whereas, since the marriage heretofore pro- 
posed between our most dear and most beloved 
son the King Dauphin, and our most dear and most 
beloved daughter the Queen of Scotland Dauphi- 
ness, his consort, contracted, concluded, and con- 
firmed, the deputies of the states of the said king- 
dom have, for and in the name of the said states, 
taken to our said son the oath of fidelity, as to their 
true and natural lord, which he is ; in virtue 
whereof, being subjects of both kingdoms, (which 
have hitherto, and of a long time, cultivated a 
social communication, lived in mutual friendship 
and intelligence, favoured and assisted each other) 
by the union of the houses of France and Scotland, 
so closely connected that we esteem them as one 
and the same, and desire, for this cause, the better 
to establish, entertain, and invigorate this friend- 
ship between our said subjects, and those of the 
said kingdom of Scotland, and to give the said 
inhabitants of the latter kingdom the more oppor- 
tunity of visiting their king and queen, when they 



* Answering nearly to the English court of Greencloth, 



32 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

shall be on this side, of residing near them, attend- 
ing and serving them, as to good and faithful sub- 
jects belongs, to indulge and favour them with the 
graces and privileges which our own proper sub- 
jects enjoy : be it known that we, these things con- 
sidered, and for several other great and reasonable 
causes thereunto us moving, have to all the inha- 
bitants of the said kingdom of Scotland, subjects 
of our said son the King Dauphin, and of our said 
daughter his consort, permitted, granted, and 
vouchsafed, and do, by these presents, permit, 
grant, and vouchsafe, that they may at their ease, 
as oft as to them shall seem good, come, inhabit, 
and abide in this our kingdom, and therein accept, 
hold, and possess all and every the benefices, dig- 
nities, and offices ecclesiastical, with which they 
may be justly and canonically invested by due 
title, not derogating from the holy decrees, con- 
cordates, privileges, franchises, and liberties of the 
Gallican church, and thereof to take and seize 
possession and enjoyment, and to reap and receive 
the fruits, profits, and revenues, unto what sum 
soever they do or may amount : and, moreover, to 
acquire in this kingdom, country, lands, and seig- 
nories in our allegiance, all and every of the estates, 
moveable and immoveable, which they shall see 
meet, to have and to hold them, together with 
such as may devolve, redound, and belong to them, 
whether by succession, donation, or otherwise, and 
to order and dispose of them by testament, settle- 
ment of latter will, living donation, or in what 
other manner soever. And that their heirs, or 
others to whom they shall have disposed of them, 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 33 

may be able to succeed to them, to take and seize 
possession and enjoyment of their said estates, just 
as they would and might do if they were originally 
natives of our said kingdom and country, without 
our solicitor-general, or other our officers having 
power henceforth to claim the estates as acquired 
to us by right of escheat, or the subjects of the 
said kingdom of Scotland, being in the enjoyment 
of those estates, brought to any molestation or 
trouble. And to all, as above, we have capaci- 
tated and dispensed, and do, by these presents, 
capacitate and dispense them, whether they have 
habituated in our said kingdom, country, lands, 
and seignories of our obedience, or in the said 
kingdom of Scotland, without their being bound 
on account thereof to pay unto us, or our succes- 
sors, any finance or indemnity whatever ; where- 
from, unto what sum, value, and estimation soever 
it doth or may amount, we have, in consideration 
of the above, acquitted and discharged, and do 
hereby acquit and discharge them, and thereof, in 
favour of our said daughter, have made, and do 
make a gift, by these presents under our hand ; 
upon condition, that if, by reason of the said bene- 
fices, any law-suit should be raised, they shall 
cause none of our subjects to be brought or con- 
vened, except before such of our judges unto 
whom the cognisance shall belong. We do there- 
fore give in command, by these same presents, 
unto our beloved and trusty the persons holding 
our courts of parliament, great council and ex- 
chequer at Paris, and to all those our bailiffs, 
seneschals, provosts, and other our justiciaries, or 



34 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

their deputies, present and to come, and to every 
one whom it may concern, that our present grace, 
leave, licence, and permission, and all contained in 
these said presents, they make, suffer, and allow 
the said subjects and inhabitants of the said king- 
dom of Scotland, plenarily and peaceably to enjoy 
and use ; ceasing and causing to cease all lets and 
hindrances to the contrary whatsoever. For such 
is our pleasure. Notwithstanding that the value 
of the said finance is here neither specified nor de- 
clared, that such gifts v/e have been wont to make 
only for the half or third of the regulations by us 
or our predecessors made in the order and distri- 
bution of our finances, and even that of the month 
of December last, wherein it is said, that all gifts, 
benefits, and rewards shall be paid by the treasurer 
of our exchequer ; from which we have, by our 
full power and royal authority, derogated, and do 
derogate, and in the derogatories, by these pre- 
sents, do abide, what other ordinances, restrictions, 
commands, and prohibitions soever to the contrary 
notwithstanding. And, forasmuch as there may 
be occasion for these presents in divers and several 
places, we will, that, upon sight thereof made 
under the seal royal, or duly collated by one of 
our beloved and trusty notaries and secretaries, 
credit be given as the present original ; where- 
unto, that it may be a deed firm and stable for 
ever, we have caused our seal to be put and an- 
nexed ; saving in all else our right, and that of 
others in all. Given at Villiers-courterets in the 
month of June of the year of grace one thousand 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 35 

five hundred fifty-eight, and of our reign the 
twelfth. 

Extract of the registers of the parliament of Paris. 

The court having seen the king's letters- 
patents, in form of charter, given at Villiers-cou- 
terets in the month of June last past, subscribed 
by the hand of the said lord, and on the fold by 
the king de TAubespine ; for the which, and the 
causes therein contained, the said lord vouchsafes, 
permits, and grants unto all the inhabitants of the 
said kingdom of Scotland, subjects of the King, 
Dauphin of France, son to the said lord the king, 
and of the Queen of Scotland, Dauphiness his 
consort, that they may with full liberty inhabit, 
come, reside, and remain in this kingdom, and 
therein hold and possess benefices and offices 
ecclesiastical, and there acquire whatever estates, 
moveable and immoveable, they shall see meet, as 
if they were originally natives of this kingdom, as 
is more fully set forth, in the said letters of the 
decree of the said court, communicated to the 
king's solicitor-general ; his conclusions thereupon, 
and every thing considered, the said court hath 
ordained, and doth ordain, that the said letters- 
patents shall be read, published, recorded in the 
registers of this court, in order for the patentees to 
enjoy the effect hereof, so long as the kingdom 
shall be in the obedience, confederacy, and friend- 
ship of the king ; provided always that the sub- 
jects of this kingdom shall be capable, as such, of 
enjoying like rights, privileges, goods, lands, and 
possessions, and of holding benefices and dignities 



36 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

in the kingdom of Scotland. Done in parliament 
the eleventh day of July, in the year one thousand 
five hundred and fifty-eight. " Lecta, similiter 
publicata et registrata in camera compulorum do- 
mini nostri regis, audito procuratore generali prout 
in registro, 13tii Julii anno suprascripto." Signed 
Le Maitre. 

Read, published, and recorded in the register 
of the king's great council, the solicitor-general of 
the said lord, requiring it under the modifications 
contained in the register, and with the proviso, 
that the draught be renewed by those who shall 
be willing to avail themselves of the grant con- 
tained in these presents. Done at Paris, in council, 
the nineteenth of July, one thousand five hundred 
and fifty-eight. Signed Faure. 

In consequence of these letters-patents, and this 
act of registration, the three estates of Scotland in 
parliament, assembled, in the month of November 
1558, passed an act for naturalizing and granting 
the same privileges to all the French in Scotland ; 
and a copy of those letters-patents* was registered 
in the acts of the parliament of Scotland. 

Letters-patents of King Henry IV. bearing confir- 
mation of the privileges of the Scots in France, 
in the year 1599. 

Henry, by the grace of God, King of France 
and Navarre, unto all present and to come, greet- 
ing. 

Whereas, since it hath pleased God to call us 
unto the sucession of this crown, we have }iad 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 37 

nothing more at heart than to maintain the alli- 
ances and correspondences which we found that 
the kings our predecessors had made with the 
princes and potentates of Christendom for the pub- 
lic weal of our kingdom : we have taken especial 
care of the ancient confederacy and alliance long 
since contracted and religiously observed between 
our predecessor Kings, and the Kings of Scotland, 
for the mutual aid and assistance which they have 
got from each other upon occasions that have offered 
for the good of their respective states, people and 
subjects ; and being that we have, moreover, a par- 
ticular inclination to love our most dear and most 
beloved good brother and cousin James the VI. of 
the name reigning over the said country of Scot- 
land, in consideration whereof, desiring, after the 
example of our other kings our predecessors, to 
make appear to our said good brother and cousin 
the said King of Scotland, that the continuance of 
his friendship is unto us dear and desirable, and to 
indulge those of the said nation with every instance 
of good-will, by imparting to them the graces and 
privileges whereof they have rendered themselves 
worthy, through the affection and fidelity which 
they have borne this crown : be it known, that, 
for the considerations abovesaid, and of our special 
grace, full power and royal authority, we have 
said, declared, and commanded, and do, by these 
presents, say, declare, and command, it is our will 
and pleasure, that the subjects of our said good 
brother and cousin the King of Scotland, who do 
inhabit, or shall hereafter reside in this our king- 
dom, be capacitated to accept, hold, and possess 



38 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

all and every the benefices, dignities, and ecclesi- 
astical offices with which they may be justly and 
canonically invested by sufficient title, nothing de- 
rogating from the decrees and concordates, privi- 
leges, franchises, and liberties of the Gallican 
church, thereof to take and seize the possession 
and enjoyment, and to reap and receive the said 
fruits and revenues, to what sums soever they do 
or may amount. And, moreover, to acquire for 
the future, in our said kingdom, countries, lands, 
and seignories of our said obedience, all and every 
the estates, moveable and immoveable, that they 
shall see meet, to hold and possess them, together 
with those that may fall, redound, or belong to 
them, whether by succession, donation, or other- 
wise, and to order and dispose of them by testa- 
ment, destination, latter-will, living conveyance, 
or in what manner soever # , and that their heirs, 
or others, to whom they shall fall ab intestat, or 
otherwise, whether they be residing in our said 
kingdom, or whether they be in the said kingdom 
of Scotland, when the said succession or donation 
shall fall, may succeed to them, take and seize 
possession and enjoyment of their said estates, just 
as they would or might do, were they original na- 
tives of our said kingdom and country ; provided 
always, that they who shall testate, or decease in- 
testate, be denizons ; without our solicitor-general, 
or other our officers, having any power to claim 
their said estates as our acquest by right of escheat, 
or the said subjects of the said kingdom of Scot- 
land, meeting in the enjoyment of such estates 
with any sort of molestation ; without also the acts 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 39 

and judgments heretofore passed contrary to the 
tenor of the said presents, being able for the future 
to hinder the effect hereof, or there being any oc- 
casion for the subjects of the country of Scotland 
to obtain any other dispensation or declaration 
than these presents ; and, as above, we have 
enabled and dispensed, and do, by these presents, 
enable and dispense them, without their being 
obliged, on account thereof, to pay us, or our suc- 
cessors, any finances or indemnity, from which, 
unto what sum, value, or estimation soever it doth 
or may amount, we have, in consideration of the 
above, acquitted and discharged, and do acquit 
and discharge them, by these presents, signed with 
our own hand ; upon condition, that if, by reason 
of the said benefices with which the said Scots 
may be provided, there arise any suit or conten- 
tion, they shall not cause any of our subjects to be 
brought or convened, but before such of our judges 
unto whom the cognizance shall belong. We do 
therefore give in command, to our beloved and 
faithful the persons holding our court of parliament, 
great council, and chamber of accompts at Paris, 
treasurers general of France, and all our bailiffs, 
seneschals, provosts, and other our justiciaries and 
officers, or their deputies, present and to come, and 
unto every one of them as it shall respectively 
concern him, that our present grace, leave, licence, 
and permission, and all in these said presents con- 
tained, they cause, suffer, and allow the said sub- 
jects and inhabitants of the said kingdom of Scot- 
land to enjoy and use, plenarily and peaceably, 
ceasing and causing to cease all hinderances and 



40 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

molestations to the contrary whatsoever. For suck 
is our pleasure. Notwithstanding that the value 
of the said finance is not there specified and de- 
clared, that such gifts have been wont to be made 
only for the half, or the third of the ordinances by 
us, or our predecessors, issued upon the order and 
distribution of our finances ; from which we have, of 
our full power and royal authority, derogated, and 
do derogate, and from the derogatories therein con- 
tained, and the ordinances, restrictions, commands, 
and prohibitions to the contrary whatsoever. And, 
forasmuch as these presents may be wanted in divers 
and several places, it is our will, that, upon sight 
hereof under our seal royal, or duly collated, credit 
be given as to the present original ; unto which, 
that it may be a deed firm and stable for ever, 
we have caused our seal to be affixed : saving in 
all else our right, and that of others in all. Given 
at Fontainebleau in the month of March, and year 
of grace one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of our reign the tenth. Signed Henry. And 
upon the fold, By the king from Neufville, on one 
side visa, and sealed in a lace of red and green silk, 
with the great seal in green wax, registered in 
presence of the king's solicitor-general j provided 
always that the Scots, who are not denizons, shall 
have no power to succeed those who shall reside 
in this kingdom ; and the said Scots, residing in 
this kingdom, shall not be deprived of the said 
letters upon quitting the said residence. At Paris, 
in parliament, the last day of July, one thousand 
five hundred and ninety-nine. Signed Du Tillet. 
A collated extract from the registers and royal 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 41 

ordinances registered in parliament. Signed Voisin, 
with a paraph. 

Extract of the records of parliament. 

This day the court having seen the letters given 
at Fontainebleau in the month of March last, signed 
Henry, and upon the fold, from Neufville, and 
sealed with the great seal in green wax, in a lace 
of red and green silk, whereby, for the causes there 
contained, the said lord wills, that the subjects of 
the King of Scotland, who inhabit and reside, or 
shall hereafter inhabit and reside in this kingdom, 
have power to accept, hold, and possess all and 
every the benefices, dignities, and offices ecclesias- 
tical with which they may be lawfully invested, 
not derogating from the holy decrees, privileges, 
and liberties of the Gallican church ; and, more- 
over, in this said kingdom, to acquire all and every 
the estates, moveable and immoveable, to hold and 
possess them, together with those that may fall and 
pertain to them whether by succession, donation, 
or otherwise ; and to order and dispose of them by 
testament, settlement, and latter-will, and other- 
wise, in what manner soever ; and that their rela- 
tions, and others to whom they shall have disposed 
of them, and to whom they shall fall ab intestate or 
otherwise, whether they be resident in this king- 
dom, or in the said country of Scotland, when the 
said donation or succession shall fall, may be able 
to succeed to them, take and seize the enjoyment 
of their said estates, just as though they were ori- 
ginally natives of the said kingdom ; provided that 

3 



42 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

the testators, or those who shall decease intestate, 
be denizons, as is more at large contained in the 
said letters and conclusions of the king's solicitor- 
general. The matter being taken into deliberation, 
the said court hath decreed and ordained, that the 
said letters shall be here registered in presence of 
the king's solicitor-general, without the Scots who 
are not denizons having any power to succeed to 
those who shall reside in this kingdom. And the 
said Scots residing in this kingdom shall not be 
deprived of the benefit of the said letters upon 
quitting the said residence. Done in parliament 
the last day of July, in the year one thousand five 
hundred and ninety-nine. Signed Voisin, with a 
paraph. 

Letters-patents of Lewis XIIL to confirm the privi- 
leges of the Scots in France, in the year 1612. 

Lewis, by the grace of God, King of France 
and Navarre, unto all present and to come, greet- 
ing. Our predecessor kings, even the late King 
Henry the Great, our .most honoured lord and 
father, (whom God absolve) by his letters-patents 
of the year one thousand five hundred and ninety- 
nine, verified in our court of parliament at Paris, 
willed and commanded, for several weighty con- 
siderations therein contained, that those of the 
Scotish nation, who should inhabit and reside here- 
after in this our kingdom, should have power to 
accept, hold, and possess all and every the bene- 
fices, dignities, and offices ecclesiastical, with which 
they might be justly invested, to take the posses- 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 43 

sion, fruits and revenues of them, to acquire in the 
said kingdom, country, and lands, and seignories 
of our obedience, all estates, moveable and im- 
moveable, to have and to hold them, together with 
those that might fall to them by testament, dona- 
tion, or otherwise, just as they might do, were they 
original natives of our said kingdom, upon such 
conditions, and in such sort as is more at length 
set forth and specified by the said letters and veri- 
fication thereof. In consequence whereof, our most 
dear and well beloved William Morison, a Scots- 
man, son to John Morison and Elizabeth Gray, 
also Scots, his father and mother, resident, during 
their life, in the city of Glasgow, having afterwards 
retired from the said country, and dwelt thirty 
years in our cities of Rouen and Dieppe, hath 
caused most humble petition and request to be 
made unto us, that he may be enabled to enjoy the 
tenor of the said letters, under the benefit and 
grace of which he hath quitted the said country, 
in order to live and die in this our kingdom : BE 
IT KNOWN, that, willing to preserve and main- 
tain the subjects of the kingdom of Scotland, in 
the franchises, privileges, and liberties to them con- 
ceded by our said predecessors, and, after their 
example, favourably to treat them, unto this same 
William Morison, for these and other causes there- 
unto us moving, in consequence of the said first 
letters, the copy whereof, extracted by the recorder 
of our said court of parliament at Paris, is here an- 
nexed under the great seal of our chancery, we 
have permitted and granted, of our special grace, 
full power and royal authority, we do permit and 



44 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

grant, it is our will and pleasure, that, conformably 
to the said letters and verifications thereof, he may 
resort and reside in this our kingdom, country, 
lands, and seignories of our obedience, there to 
acquire all and every such estates, moveable and 
immoveable, as he shall see meet, to hold and pos- 
sess them,togetherwith those that may fall,redound, 
and pertain to him, whether by succession, dona- 
tion, or otherwise; and to order and dispose of 
them by testament and destination of latter-will, 
living donation, or in what manner soever : and 
that his heirs, or others to whom they shall fall 
ab intestat, or otherwise, whether they be resident 
in our said kingdom, or whether they be in the 
said country of Scotland, when the said succession 
or donation shall fall, may be able to succeed to 
him, to take and seize possession and enjoyment of 
the said estates, just so as they would or could do, 
if they were original natives of our said kingdom 
and country, provided they shall be denizons ; and 
that without our solicitor-general, or other our 
officers, having power henceforth to claim their 
said estates to us acquired by right of escheat ; nor 
likewise shall any thing, done to the contrary of the 
tenor of these presents, have power for the future 
to hinder the effect hereof, or shall there be any 
need for him to obtain any dispensation or declara- 
tion, other than these presents ; and to all, as above, 
we have enabled and dispensed, and do, by these 
said presents, enable and dispense him, without 
his being obliged, on account thereof, to pay unto 
us, or our successors, any finance or indemnity ; 
from which, unto whatever value or estimation it 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 45 

doth or may amount, we have, in consideration 
thereof, as above, acquitted and discharged, and 
do, by these presents, acquit and discharge him : 
we do therefore give in command, to our beloved 
and trusty councillors the persons holding our 
courts of parliament, commissioners of our accompts 
at Paris and Rouen, treasurers general of France, 
at Paris and Rouen, or their deputies, or to each 
of them in their right, themselves first hereto re- 
quired, and to all other our bailiffs, seneschals, 
provosts, and other our justiciaries and officers, or 
their deputies, present and to come, and to each 
of thern whom it shall respectively concern, to cause 
these presents to be registered, and the tenor 
thereof to be. enjoyed and used plenarily and 
peaceably by the said William Morison and his 
successors ; ceasing and cause to cease all moles- 
tation and hinderances to the contrary whatsoever. 
For such is our pleasure. And to the end that it 
may be a thing firm and stable for ever, we have 
caused our seal to be put to these said presents, 
saving in all else our right, and that of others. 
Given at Paris, in the month of October, the year 
of grace one thousand six hundred and twelve, and 
of our reign the third. Signed Lewis. And 
counter-signed by the King, the Queen-regent his 
mother present : and this our copy, signed Potier, 
in paraph ; on the side, contents signed Poulsepin, 
in paraph, and below visa; and sealed with the 
great seal of green wax in fillet of red and green 
silk. 



46 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 



Extract of the registers of the parliament of Paris. 

Registered in presence of the king's solici- 
tor-general, towards the patentee's enjoying the 
effect and tenor hereof, with proviso that the said 
patentee shall be bound to obtain and procure, for 
the said lord paramount, a brief from our holy 
father the Pope, within six months next coming, 
whereby his holiness shall grant, that, upon the 
falling of any vacancy by death, resignation, or 
otherwise, of the benefices with which he may be 
invested in this kingdom and country, being in the 
nomination and presentation of the said lord para- 
mount, there shall be no investiture thereunto by 
his said holiness, without the nomination, request 
or consent of the said lord the king ; and, that on 
account of the said benefices, he shall not cause any 
of the king's subjects to be brought or convened 
before the court of Rome, so if, by reason thereof, 
any law-suit commence, he shall prosecute them in 
this said kingdom, before the judges to whom the 
cognizance shall belong : and, moreover, with pro- 
viso that the patentee shall not be capable of being 
invested with any bishopric, archbishopric, or abbey 
of chief order, nor other vicarages, in form of the 
said benefices with which he may be invested in 
this kingdom as a natural subject of France. At 
Paris, in parliament, the fifteenth day of December, 
one thousand six hundred and twelve. Signed 
Du Tillet ; a seal and paraph. And, upon the 
said fold is also wrote, recorded in the register of 
the treasury, the king's solicitor-general thereunto 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 47 

consenting, in order for the patentee to enjoy the 
effect and tenor hereof, upon the terms and condi- 
tions set forth by the act of court. Done at Paris, 
the twentieth of December, one thousand six hun- 
dred and twelve. Signed L'Annier in paraph. 

Act of King Lewis XIV* $ council of state, in favour 
of the Scots in France, 

Whereas it hath been represented to the King 
in his council, the Queen-regent his mother pre- 
sent, that, in the year seven hundred fourscore 
and nine, Charlemagne reigning in France, and 
Achaius in Scotland, the alliance and confederacy 
having been made between the two kingdoms, 
offensive and defensive, of crown and crown, king 
and king, people and people, as is set forth by the 
charter called the Golden Bull, it should have, 
until this present, continued without any inter- 
ruption, and been ratified by all the Kings succes- 
sors of the said Charlemagne, with advantages and 
prerogatives so peculiar, that not only are the Scots 
in capacity of acquiring and possessing estates, 
moveable and immoveable, and benefices in France, 
and the French in Scotland, without taking out any 
letters of naturalization ; but also it should have 
been granted to the said Scots, to pay only the 
fourth part of the duties upon all goods which 
they transport to the said country of Scotland ; a 
privilege which they have ever enjoyed, and do 
enjoy at this day : that even whatever rupture 
there may have been between the crowns of France 
and England, since the union of the kingdom of 



48 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

» ■ 

England with that of Scotland, the French have 
been nevertheless still treated by the Scots as 
friends and confederates, and particularly in the 
year one thousand six hundred twenty-six, when 
the French in Scotland, and the Scots in France, 
had a reciprocal replevy of their merchandises, 
while those of the French in England, and those 
of the English in France were confiscated ; and 
that there never hath been made any difference or 
distinction in this kingdom, between his Majesty's 
natural subjects and the said Scots : wherefore the 
late King of happy memory, having, by his declara- 
tion in the month of January, one thousand six 
hundred thirty-nine, commanded that taxes should 
be laid upon all foreigners of his said kingdom, 
his Majesty should have, by an act of his council 
of the eleventh of May in the said year, exempted 
and discharged all Scots residing therein, their 
children, descendants, and heirs, from all taxes 
laid, or to be laid upon the said foreigners. In 
consequence of the said declaration, acts and rolls 
of taxes expeded thereupon, willing that, if any 
Scot had been there comprehended, whether in the 
city of Paris, or in others of this kingdom, they 
should be freed without difficulty in virtue of the 
said acts ; the said letters of declaration, a^ts, or 
ought else, to the contrary notwithstanding In 
prejudice whereof, those who have raised the taxes 
ordained to be laid upon all foreigners residing in 
this said kingdom, in virtue of the letters of de- 
claration of the month of January last, had not 
forborn to comprehend, in the rolls which they 
caused to be expeded in execution thereof, some 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 49 

individuals of the Scottish nation amongst other 
foreigners, without expressing their country and 
quality; which being absolutely contrary to the 
intention of his Majesty, who wills and means to 
entertain inviolably the said confederacy and alli- 
ance with the said Scots, and to maintain them in 
all the rights, privileges, and prerogatives, unto 
them granted by the kings his predecessors, and 
which he hath ratified since his accession to the 
crown : the king being in council, the queen-re- 
gent his mother present, hath discharged, and doth 
discharge, all the Scottish gentlemen residing in his 
said kingdom, from the tax laid upon them in qua- 
lity of foreigners : their majesties give prohibition 
to all bailiffs and sergeants to constrain them on ac- 
count thereof, on pain of a thousand livres of fine, 
and of all costs, damages, and interests. And for 
the other Scots, his majesty hath superseded pay- 
ment of the said taxes for three months, during 
which time his majesty prohibits their being con- 
strained, if there is not some private stipulation 
made by them to the contrary. Done in the king's 
council of state, his majesty being there, and the 
queen-regent his mother present, held at Fontaine- 
bleau, the nineteenth of September, one thousand 
six hundred and forty-six. Signed Le Tellier. 

Privileges of the Scottish merchants trading in France, 
granted by King Francis I. in 1518. 

Francis, by the grace of God, King of France. 
Be it known to all present and to come, that we 
mean to treat favourably the subjects of our most 

E 



SO MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

dear and most beloved brother, cousin, and ally, 
the king of Scotland, in favour of the great and 
ancient alliance subsisting between us and him, and 
of the great and commendable services which those 
of the Scottish nation have done to the crown of 
France : for these causes, and in order to give 
them greater occasion to persevere therein, and for 
other considerations thereunto us moving, in token 
also of our inclination to the request of our most 
dear and most beloved cousin the duke of Albany, 
regent and governor of Scotland, we have all and 
every the Scottish merchants, who are and shall be 
hereafter trading, frequenting and conversing in 
this our kingdom, freed, acquitted, exempted, and 
do, of our special grace, full power and royal au- 
thority, free, acquit, and exempt, by these presents, 
signed with our hand, in perpetuity and for ever, 
from the new impost of twelve French deniers per 
livre, raised in the city of Dieppe upon foreign 
merchandise, beside the sum of four French deniers 
per livre, which hath been anciently collected and 
raised upon the said foreign merchandise. We 
do therefore give in command, by these same pre- 
sents, to our beloved and trusty the commissioners 
of our exchequers and treasurers of France, and 
to all our other justiciaries and officers, or to their 
deputies present and to come, and to every one of 
them, so as it shall concern him, that our present 
grace, immunity, discharge, and exemption, they 
cause, suffer, and allow, the said Scottish mer- 
chants, and their successors, whoare and shall be 
trading and frequenting in our said kingdom, to 
enjoy and use, plenarily and peaceably, perpetu- 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 51 

ally and for ever, without giving, or suffering 
to be given them, any manner of disturbance or 
impediment ; for such is our pleasure ; whatsoever 
enactions, restrictions, commands, or prohibitions 
to the contrary notwithstanding. And to the eftd 
that this be a deed firm and stable for ever, we 
have caused our seal to be put to these said pre- 
sents, saving in all else our right, and that of others 
in all. Given at Amboise in the month of May, 
and year of grace, one thousand five hundred 
and eighteen, and of our reign the fourth. 

Privileges of the Scottish merchants trading in France, 
granted by King Henry S I I. in 1554. 

Henry, by the grace of God, King of France, 
to our beloved and trusty counsellors the persons 
holding our court of parliament at Rouen, the 
commissioners of our exchequer at Paris, the in- 
spectors general of our finances and supplies, port- 
masters at the said Rouen, and to all our other 
justiciaries and officers, or their deputies, whom it 
shall concern greeting. We liberally inclining to 
the request which hath been made us by our dearest 
and most beloved daughter the queen of Scotland, 
for her subjects in the said country, and several 
other considerations thereunto us moving, in order 
to remove all the difficulties which you and every 
one of you might make, of causing the subjects of 
our said daughter in the said country of Scotland, 
to enjoy our letters of exemption and ampliation 
here annexed under our counter-seal, and to put a 
final end thereunto, we have, by amplifying and 

2 



52 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

interpreting the same, said, declared and ordained, 
and do, of our own accord, certain knowledge, 
special grace, full power, and royal authority, say, 
declare and ordain, that, by our said letters here- 
unto annexed, as said is, we have intended, and do 
intend, that the subjects of the said country oi 
Scotland shall not be bound to pay for the commo- 
dities which they shall take and carry out of our 
country and duchy of Normandy, the cities, towns, 
and havens thereof, whatsoever they be, if designed 
for the said country of Scotland, other or greater 
subsidies and duties than they have heretofore 
been wont to pay, and did pay in our city of 
Dieppe, at the time of the edicts by us issued con- 
cerning the collection of our foreign duties : and, 
so long as trade is, or shall be, we have exempted, 
acquitted, and freed them, and do, of our grace 
and authority, as above, exempt, acquit, and free 
them from the surplusage of the said duties, and 
unto what sum soever they may amount, over and 
above what they have anciently been wont to pay 
our city of Dieppe, although they be not above 
specified by these said presents ; whereby we com- 
mand you, and every one of you respectively, as 
it shall concern him, we give commission and ex- 
press injunction to cause these our said letters and 
presents to be read, published and registered, and 
the contents thereof, our said daughter's subjects, 
plenarily and peaceably to enjoy, without, on occa- 
sion of our-said edicts, causing, or suffering to be 
caused, made, or given them any molestation, dis- 
turbance, or impediment, to the contrary whatso- 
ever ; according to what, by our said letters here 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 53 

annexed, as said is, you are commanded to ob- 
serve ; for such is our pleasure ; notwithstanding 
the said edicts, by us and our predecessors made 
about the receipt of the said duties, from which, 
this purpose, and without prejudicing them in other 
respects, we have derogated, and do derogate, and 
from thence exempted, and do exempt the said 
subjects of Scotland, by these said presents, which 
to this end we have signed with our hand. Given 
at Paris, the third day of February, in the year of 
grace one thousand five hundred and fifty-two, and 
of our reign the eighth. 

Ratified and approved wherever it hath been 
necessary. 

Confirmation of the privileges of the Scottish merchants 
trading iii France, granted by King Henry IV* 
in 1599. 

Henry, by the grace of God, King of France 
and Navarre, unto all present and to come, greet- 
ing. Whereas the late King Francis I. our most 
honoured sire and grandfather, by his letters-pa- 
tents, in charter-form, of the month of May one 
thousand five hundred and eighteen, desiring, for 
several good considerations, well and favourably to 
treat the subjects of the kingdom of Scotland, in 
favour of the great and ancient friendship and al- 
liance which subsisted between the two kingdoms, 
and of the great and commendable services which 
those of the Scottish nation had done to the crown 
of France, should have freed, quitted and exemp- 
ted all the Scottish merchants, trading, frequent- 

3 



54 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

ing and dealing in this kingdom, from the foreign 
impost of twelve French deniers for each livre, then 
raised in our city of Dieppe upon merchandise, 
besides four French deniers for each pound of an- 
cient foreign demesne : and since, upon the com- 
plaint that the said Scottish merchants had'made 
to the late King Henry II. our most honoured 
sire and father, (whom God absolve,) that, under 
pretext of a new edict upon foreign duties, the 
officers thereof in our city of Rouen had con- 
strained them to pay twenty deniers a livre for the 
new foreign impost, he should have, by other let- 
ters-patents in charter-form, of the month of Oc- 
tober, in the year one thousand five hundred 
fifty-four, by amplifying the said first exemption, 
ordained that the said Scottish merchants should 
not be obliged tapay, on account of the commodi- 
ties which they should bring and carry out of our 
said country of Normandy, or any towns whatso- 
ever thereof, designed for the said country of Scot- 
land, any other duties and subsidies than they had 
been of old wont to do, and did at the time of issu- 
ing the said new edicts made concerning the re- 
ceipt of foreign duties and demesnes ; as is con- 
tained more at large in the said letters verified 
where need hath been : and also, by other letters- 
patents, he should have declared to have meant, 
that the subjects of the said country of Scotland 
should not be bound to pay for the goods they 
should bring and carry out of our said country of 
Normandy, cities, towns, and harbours thereof, de- 
signed for the said country of Scotland, other or 
greater subsidies and duties than they had before 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 55 

been wont to pay, and did pay in our city of Dieppe, 
at the time of the edicts by us made relating to 
the receipt of our duties of foreign impost. But 
whereas, on occasion of the troubles which have 
prevailed in this kingdom, especially within these 
ten or twelve years past, things have been so alter- 
ed, and the privileges of the Scottish merchants 
so enervated, that, if we were not pleased to con- 
tinue and confirm the same to them, they feared 
therein to find obstacles and difficulties which 
might deprive them of the benefit of the grace that 
hath been unto them granted and continued by the 
said kings our predecessors : be it known, that we 
desire no less favourably to treat the said Scottish 
merchants, than the said kings our predecessors 
have done, as well in consequence of the ancient 
alliance and confederacy which subsists between 
this kingdom and that of Scotland, as for the 
friendship and good correspondence which sub- 
sisteth between us and the king of Scotland, James 
VI. of the name, our most dear and most beloved 
good brother and cousin, now reigning in the said 
country ; we have, of our special grace, full power 
and royal authority, said, declared, and ordained, 
do, by these presents, say, declare, and ordain, it 
is our will and pleasure, that the said Scottish 
merchants, trading, frequenting, and conversing, 
in this our said kingdom, enjoy for the future, in 
our whole said country and duchy of Normandy, 
the same franchises, privileges, and immunities* 
from foreign customs and imposts, and after the 
same sort and manner that they enjoyed them in 
the days of the Kings Francis and Henry, our 



56 MEMOIRS OF THE ALLIANCE 

most honoured grandfather and brother-in-law, 
until the renewal of the said last troubles, that, by 
the injury of the times, their enjoyment of them 
hath been impeded : the which franchises, privi- 
leges and immunities, for the considerations above- 
said, and of our grace, power, and authority, as 
above, we have confirmed, and do confirm to them, 
by these said presents, therefore signed by our 
hand, for the commodities which they shall bring 
and carry out of our said country and duchy of 
Normandy, cities, towns, and harbours thereof 
whatsoever, designed for the said country of Scot- 
land. We do therefore give in command, to our 
beloved and trusty the persons holding our court 
of parliament at Rouen, commissioners of our ac- 
compts and supply in the said country, treasurers 
general of France in the said Rouen, port-masters 
in the said place, or their deputies, and to all 
other our justiciaries and officers, or their substi- 
tutes, whom it shall concern, that the tenor of 
these presents they cause, suffer, and allow, the 
said subjects, Scottish merchants, to enjoy and use, 
plenarily and peaceably ; ceasing, and causing to 
cease, all molestations and impediments to the con- 
trary whatsoever; and to cause this to be suffered, 
and to return and restore to them hereafter their 
effects and commodities, if any on account thereof 
should be taken or arrested, that they constrain, 
and cause to be constrained, our officers of foreign 
trade, by all due and lawful methods, any opposi- 
tions or appeals whatsoever notwithstanding ; and 
producing these presents, or a vidimus thereof, 
made under the seal royal for once only, we will, 



BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCOTLAND, 57 

that our receivers of the said foreign duties be 
held acquitted and discharged thereof by the com- 
missioners of our said accompts in Normandy, 
whom we warrant so to do, without difficulty or 
hesitation. And whereas there may be occasion 
for these presents in several different places, it is 
our will, that to the copy thereof, duly collated, 
credit be given as to the present original, where- 
unto, in witness hereof, and to the end that it be 
a deed firm and stable for ever, we have caused 
our seal to be put and affixed, saving in all else 
our right, and that of others in all. For such is 
our pleasure. Given at Fontainebleau in the 
month of March, of the year of grace one thousand 
five hundred and ninety-nine, and of our reign the 
tenth. Signed Henry; countersigned, by the 
king at Neufville, and sealed in a silk string with 
the great seal of green wax. 

From a copy collated with the original on parch- 
ment, by a clerk of the court of parliament of 
Rouen, the 27th of April, 1599. 



AN 

ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

EXPEDITION 

OF 

William the Ninth Earl of Glencairn, 

AS 

GENERAL OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES 

IN THE 

IN THE YEARS 1653 AND 1654. 
WRITTEN 

BY JOHN GRAHAM OF DEUCHRIE, 

Who was Eye and Ear-witness to all that passed from first to last. 

CONTAINING A VARIETY OF PARTICULARS 

NOT TAKEN NOTICE OF BY ANY HISTORIAN. 



AN 



ACCOUNT, &c. 



THE earl of Glencairn went from his own 
house of Finleston in the beginning of the month 
of August, 1653, to Lochearn, where several of 
the clans did meet him, viz. the earl of Athol, Mac- 
Donald of Glengarie, Cameron of Lochyell, ordi 
narily called MacEldney, John Graham of Deuch- 
rie, Donald MacGregour, tutor of MacGregour 
Farquharson of Inverey, Robertson of Strowan, 
MacNachtane of MacNachtane, Archibald lord 
Lorn, afterwards earl of Argyle, colonel Blackader 
of Tullyattan. 

These gentlemen, after some few days consulta- 
tion with his lordship, did promise to bring out 
what forces they could with all expedition. 

My lord, notwithstanding, did lie to and from 
the hills, not having any with him but the writer 
of this, and three servants, for the space of six 
weeks. 

The first forces that came to him here, were 
brought by John Graham of Deuchrie : they were 
forty footmen. Within two or three days after 
came Donald MacGregour the tutor, with eighty 
footmen • 

F 



62 glencatrn's expedition 

My lord general with this force came to John 
Graham of Deuchrie's house, where, within some 
few days, ray lord Kenmure came with forty horse- 
men from the west : colonel Blackader also came, 
with thirty horsemen, which he had gathered to- 
gether in Fifeshire. The laird of MacNachtane 
came with twelve horsemen : there was between 
sixty and eighty of the Lowlandmen that were not 
mounted on horses, but were very well provided 
in their arms : they were commanded by captain 
James Hamilton, brother of the laird of Milntown, 
and were called to a nickname Gravats. 

Colonel Kidd, governor of Stirling, being in- 
formed that the king^s forces were come so near 
him, did march with the most part of his regiment 
of foot, and troop of horse, to a place called Aber- 
foyle, within three miles of the place where my 
lord general did lie, who having intelligence there- 
of, did march with the small force he had, to the 
pass of Aberfoyle ; and drawing up his forces 
within the pass, did distribute his footmen on both 
sides thereof, very advantageously ; and the horse 
which were commanded by lord Kenmure, were 
drawn up on the wings of the foot. He gave or- 
ders that captain Hamilton, who commanded the 
Lowlandmen, called Gravats, with Deuchrie^s men, 
should receive the first charge, which they did very 
gallantly; and at the very first encounter, the 
enemy began to retire back. The general per- 
ceiving the same, did command the Highland 
forces to pursue, as also lord Kenmure with the 
horse he had. The enemy began, upon this, down- 
right to run ; they were pursued very hard \ they 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 63 

lost on the spot about sixty, and about eighty 
were killed in the pursuit : no prisoners were ta- 
ken. 

My lord general having succeeded so well, from 
all places men did daily come in to him. We then 
marched to Lochearn, and from that to Loch- 
Rannoch, where, at the hall in the isle of Loch- 
Rannocb, the clans met him. In the mean while, 
he was very busy in dispatching men to the Low- 
lands, giving them commission for taking horses, 
for raising men, and for carrying off all the arms 
they could find. 

The clans who met him at Loch-Rannoch 
brought their forces with them : the laird of Glea- 
garie brought three hundred very pretty men: 
the laird of Lochyell brought four hundred Locha- 
ber-men : the tutor of MacGregour had then 
about two hundred men with him. 

Sir Arthur Forbes, and Gerard Irvine his lieu- 
tenant-colonel, with several other officers, came 
with about eighty men on horseback. The earl 
of Athol came with a hundred horse, and with a 
regiment of brave foot, consisting of near one 
thousand two hundred men, commanded by An- 
drew Drummond, brother german of Sir James 
Drummond of Machany. He was the earl of 
Athol's lieutenant-colonel. 

These noble persons were ordered to give com- 
mission to captains, and other inferior officers, to go 
to the Lowlands, for levying what men they could. 
We then marched down to the skirts of the Low- 
lands, near the Marquis of Huntly's bounds, where 
several gentlemen joined us. 



64 glencairn's expedition 

The laird of Inverey rendezvoused in Cromar, 
for the raising of a regiment. General-major 
Morgan, who was lying at Aberdeen, being in- 
formed of the day of rendezvous in Cromar, did 
draw out of several garrisons two thousand foot, 
and one thousand horse and dragoons, with which 
he marched day and night before the day of ren- 
dezvous ; and we not having intelligence of his 
march, he fell upon our outer guards, and that so 
hotly, that our forces had much ado to get drawn 
up ; and if it had not been for John Graham of 
Deuchrie, with about forty men who fired upon 
the enemy, some of our own men being amongst 
them, and having killed the officer who commanded 
the party of the enemy who had entered the glen 
before us, this put them into some confusion, and 
made them stand a little. 

In the mean time lord Kenmure, who command- 
ed the van, marched at a great rate. Our foot 
took the glen on both sides. This glen leads to 
the laird of Grant's ground of Abernethy wood. 
Morgan now having got up his foot, ordered them 
to march on both sides of the glen after our foot, 
he himself charging at the mouth of the glen. My 
lord general, who was in the rear, was desired to 
change his horse, but he would not, though the 
nag he rode on was not worth d&lOO Scots. The 
gentlemen who attended on my lord general, were 
the laird of MacNachtane, Sir Mungo Murray, 
who killed one of the enemy's officers as they en- 
tered the pass, Nathaniel Gordon, a brave gentle- 
man, major Ogilvie, captain Ochtrie Campbell, 
captain John Rutherford, who wants the leg, colo- 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 65 

nel Blackader, the laird of Glengarie, with several 
other gentlemen of repute, whose names I cannot 
now remember. The glen was so strait for the 
horses, that only two could march a-breast, and 
sometimes only one. The enemy pursued so hot- 
ly, that they fought on foot as often as on horse- 
back. We had eight miles to travel through the 
glen, before we could reach the laird of Grant's 
ground, and the enemy did not give over the fight, 
till night parted us. 

Morgan lay in the glen all that night ; and the 
next morning he marched down through the Cro- 
mar, and from thence to Aberdeen. 

After this we lay in that country and in Baden- 
och, for near five weeks. Lord Kenmure was sent 
with a hundred horse to the shire of Argyle, to 
bring up what forces lord Lorn had gathered. He 
had mustered one thousand foot, and about fifty 
horse, who marched and joined us in Badenoch, 
where he remained with us about a fortnight ; but 
being some how discontented, he marched home 
with his men on the 1st day of January, 1654*. 

My lord general having intelligence of his deser- 
tion, ordered the laird of Glengarie, with Lochyell, 
and so many horse as could be conveniently spared, 
to pursue him, and bring him back with his men, 
or otherwise to fight him. Lorn marched straight- 
way for the castle of Ruthven in Badenoch, a 
house belonging to the marquis of Huntly, wherein 
there was a garrison of English so.diers ; but Glen- 
garie being very eager in the pursuit, overtook 
him before he got within half a mile of the castle. 
Lord Lorn seeing this, slipped oft' with what horse 

3 



60 glencairn's expedition 

he had, leaving his foot to the mercy of Glengarie 
and his men. He presently commanded a party 
of horse to follow Lorn, who could not overtake 
him ; but they brought back about twenty of his 
horsemen. His footmen were drawn up on a hill, 
where they beat a parley, and engaged to serve 
the general for behalf of his majesty. 

Glengarie was not quite satisfied with their an- 
swer, but was inclined to fall upon them, for he 
had still a grudge against them, since the wars of 
the great Montrose. My lord general by this 
time coming up, and hearing of the offer they had 
made, ordered one to go to them, and inform 
them, that he would accept of no offer from them, 
till they lay down all their arms ; upon which they 
immediately gave them up. 

The general then went up to them, with several 
of his officers, and they all declaring they were wil- 
ling to engage in his majesty 's service, under his 
lordship, he caused both officers and soldiers, 
each of them, to take an oath to be faithful to his 
majesty ; which they very readily did, and then 
their arms were restored to them : but within a 
fortnight thereafter, neither officers nor soldiers 
of them were to be seen with us : and we heard 
no more of lord Lorn, nor any of his men since 
that time. 

There was one colonel Vaughan, or Wagan, 
who came from England by Carlisle, and joined 
us with near a hundred gentlemen on horseback, 
well mounted and armed. The colonel himself 
was unfortunately killed in a rencounter he had 
with the brazen-wall regiment of horse ; but not- 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 67 

withstanding of the deadly wounds he had re- 
ceived, he rooted the troop, and killed the com- 
mander thereof, though it was said, that in all the 
civil wars they never had been heat. This brave 
gentleman had his wounds healed over : but from 
what cause I know not, they broke out again, and 
occasioned his death, to the great regret of all 
who knew him. 

We being now a considerable body, both of 
hor*e and foot, by reason of the great numbers of 
new levied men that came in daily to us, the gene- 
ral, with advice of the officers, thought it fit to 
march down to the Lowlands, in the shire of Aber- 
been : so we went by Balvenie, and from thence to 
a place called Whitelums, near to which was a 
garrison of the enemy in the castle of Kildrummie, 
a house belonging to the Earl of Mar. Morgan 
not daring to come out to us, knowing our army 
was full as good as his own ; after that we had 
been in this country a fortnight, we marched for 
the shire of Murray, where we remained near a 
month. Our head quarters was at Elgin. 

The English had two garrisons in Murrayshire, 
one in Burgie castle, and the other in Calder ; but 
notwithstanding of both, we got no hurt from them, 
but had very good quarters, and made ourselves 
merry all the time we were there. We had wasted 
the Highlands by reason of our long tarrying there. 
The marquis of Montrose, son of the great Mon 
trose, joined the general at Elgin, with near thirty 
gentlemen ; also the lord Forrester, with a few men, 
and one little major Strachan. 

The general having received letters from my 



68 glencairn's expedition 

lord Middleton, advising him of his arrival in 
Sutherland, with several other officers sent by his 
majesty, viz. Major-General Monro, to command 
as lieutenant-general of horse and foot, Dalziel, to 
command as major-general of horse and foot, and 
Drummond, as major-general of foot : lord Napier 
was to have a regiment. There were several other 
gentlemen who came over as officers in the same 
ship. 

The lord general immediately ordered the army 
to march to Sutherland. Morgan having intelli- 
gence, marched upon our rear, and as we marched 
we had many hot skirmishes with him. Our ge- 
neral was always present and in action ; and always, 
when necessary, ordered fresh parties to relieve 
those that stood in need of assistance. This skir- 
mishing lasted for the space of two days and two 
nights. 

We sat down before the house of the laird of 
Lethen, whose name was Brodie, who held it out 
for the English. Our general sent and ordered 
him to deliver up the house for the king's service* 
which he refused ; and on the approach of our 
men, he fired out on them, and killed four or five 
of them. The general being incensed at this, or- 
dered the soldiers to pull down several stacks of 
corn, with which he filled the court and gates of 
the house, which being set on fire, he judged the 
smoke would stifle them, the wind blowing it into 
the house : but it took not the effect he expected ; 
for they still held out the house, and we lost 
other three or four men more ere we marched the 
next morning. 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 69 

The general ordered all Letherfs land and stack- 
yards to be burnt, which was accordingly done ; 
and these were the only orders he gave for burn- 
ing during all his command. 

We then marched straightway for a pass that 
lay eight miles above Inverness ; and having got to 
that pass, our army crossed the water of Inverness : 
the whole horses were made to swim, and the men 
passed in boats. Here we kept a strong guard, 
and our army lay for the space of six weeks quite 
safe up and down the country of Sutherland, the 
English having no garrison in that country. 

The lord general immediately set out for Dor- 
noch, to receive lord Middleton's commands, who 
was to be general in chief; and, after five or six 
days rest, lord Middleton ordained that there 
might be a general rendezvous of the whole army, 
that so he might see what the men were, both as 
to their arms, mounting and numbers. 

The army was accordingly mustered upon a 
Saturday in the middle of March ; their number 
amounted to 3500 footmen, and 1300 horsemen. 
Of the horsemen there would have been about 
300 that were not well horsed nor well armed. 

There was an English pink cast in by stress of 
weather, on the coast of Sutherland ; she was 
loaded with near forty tons of French wine. Ge- 
neral Middleton distributed this among the officers 
of the army ; and he gave to the earl of Glencairn 
one ton thereof. 

The army being drawn up again, according to 
the former order, the earl of Glencairn passed 
along the front of all the regiments of horse and 



70 glencairn's expedition 

foot, and informed all the officers and men as he 
went along, that he had no further command novr 
but as a private colonel, and that he hoped they 
should be very happy in having so noble a com- 
mander as the present general, and the officers 
under him ; and so he wished them all well. Those 
who saw this could easily perceive how very un- 
satisfied the soldiers were, by their looks and coun- 
tenance ; for several, both officers and soldiers, 
shed tears, and vowed that they would serve with 
their old general in any corner of the world. 

When this ceremony was over, the earl of Glen- 
cairn invited the general with all the general offi- 
cers and colonels, to dine with him. His quarters 
were at the laird of Kettle's house, four miles south 
from Dornoch, the head quarters. They were as 
well entertained byhis lordship as it was possible in 
that country. The grace said, and the cloth with- 
drawn, his lordship called for a glass of wine, and 
then addressed the general in these words : " My 
lord general, you see what a gallant army these 
worthy gentlemen here present and I have gathered 
together, at a time when it could hardly be expected 
that any number durst meet together; these men 
have come out to serve his majesty, at the hazard 
of their lives, and of all that is dear to them : I 
hope therefore you will give them all the encour- 
agement to do their duty that lies in your power.' 
On this, up started Sir George Munro from his 
seat, and said to lord Glencairn, " By G — , my 
lord, the men you speak of are nothing but a num- 
ber of thieves and robbers ; and ere long I will 
bring another sort of men to the field." On which 



IN THE HIGHLANBS OF SCOTLAND. 71 

Glengarie started up, thinking himself most con- 
cerned ; but lord Glencairn desired him to for- 
bear, saying, " Glengarie, I am more concerned 
in this affront than you are ;" then addressing 
himself to Monro, said, " You, Sir, are a base 
liar ; for they are neither thieves nor robbers, but 
gallant gentlemen, and good soldiers." 

General Middleton commanded them both to 
keep the king's peace, saying, " My lord, and you 
Sir George, this is not the way to do the king ser- 
vice ; you must not fall out among yourselves ; 
therefore I will have you both to be friends ;" and 
immediately calling for a glass of wine, said, M My 
lord Glencairn, I think you did the greatest wrong 
in giving Sir George the lie ; you shall drink to 
him, and he shall pledge you.'" The noble and 
good lord Glencairn accordingly took his glass, as 
ordered by the general, and drank to Sir George ; 
who, in his old surly humour, muttered some words, 
which were not heard, but did not pledge his lord- 
ship. 

The general gave orders to sound to horse ; and 
lord Glencairn went out in order to accompany 
him to the head-quarters ; but the general would 
not allow him to go above a mile of the way. His 
lordship then returned back, having none in his 
company but colonel Blackader and John Graham 
of Deuchrie. When arrived, he became exceed- 
ing merry, causing the laird's daughter play on 
the virginals, and all the servants about the house 
to dance. Supper being now ready and on the 
table, as my lord was going to set down, one of 
the servants told him, that Alexander Munro, Sir 



72 glencairn's expedition 

George's brother, was at the gate. My lord im- 
mediately commanded to let him in, and met him 
at the hall-door, where he saluted him, and made 
him very welcome, saying, " You see, Sir, the 
meat is on the table, and will spoil if we sit not 
down to it." He placed Monro at the head of the 
table, next the laird's daughter. All present were 
very merry. My lord told Munro, he would give 
him a spring if he would dance ; which accord- 
ingly he did with the rest, the laird's daughter 
playing. While the rest were merry, his lordship 
and Monro stepped aside : they did not speak a 
dozen of words together, as all thought ; and after 
drinking a little longer, Munro departed. My 
lord then called for candles, and went to bed. 
There were two beds in his room, in one of which 
he lay, and in the other lay Blackader and Deu- 
chrie. The whole family in a little went to bed. 
None knew any thing of his lordship's design but 
one John White, who was his trumpeter and valet 
de chambre. The night being very short, and my 
lord being to meet Munro half way between his 
quarters and Dornoch, their meeting was to be as 
soon as they could perceive daylight ; so that his 
lordship got not two hours rest before he rose, and, 
notwithstanding the two aforesaid gentlemen lay 
in the room with him, he went out and returned 
from the encounter without the knowledge of any 
one in the house, except John White his servant, 
who accompanied him. Munro came accompanied 
with his brother. They were both well mounted ; 
each of the parties were to use one pistol, after dis- 
charging of which they were to decide the quarrel 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 73 

with broad swords. Their pistols were fired with- 
out doing any execution, and they made up to 
each other with their broad swords drawn. After 
a few passes his lordship had the good fortune to 
give Sir George a sore stroke on the bridle-hand ; 
whereupon Sir George cried out to his lordship that 
he was not able to command his horse, and he hoped 
he would allow him to fight on foot. My lord re- 
plied, " You base carle ! I will show you that I 
will match you either on foot or horseback." Then 
they both quitted their horses, and furiously at- 
tacked each other on foot. At the very first bout 
the noble earl gave him so sore a stroke on the 
brow, about an inch above his eyes, that he could 
not see for the blood that issued from the wound. 
His lordship was then just going to thrust him 
through the body ; but his man John White, forced 
up his sword, saying, " You have enough of him, 
my lord, you have got the better of him." His 
lordship was very angry with John, and in a great 
passion gave him a blow over the shoulder. He 
then took horse and came back to his quarters. 
Munro came straight away to the head-quarters , 
and his brother had much ado to get him conveyed 
there, by reason of the blooding both of his hand 
and head. 

The general being acquainted of this meeting, 
immediately sent captain Ochtrie Campbell with a 
guard, to secure the earl of Glencairn in his quar- 
ters; which accordingly was done before six in 
the morning. The general had ordered captain 
Campbell to take his lordship's sword from him, and 
G 



74 glencairn's expedition 

to commit him to arrest in his chamber, taking his 
parole. This affair happened on Sunday morning. 
In the week ensuing, there fell out an accident 
which made the breach still wider betwixt his lord- 
ship and Munro. One captain Livingston, who 
came over with Monro, and a gentleman called 
James Lindsay, who came over with lord Napier, 
had some hot words together. Livingston al- 
ledged Munro was in the right, and Lindsay in- 
sisted in the contrary. They challenged each 
other, and went out early in the morning to the 
links of Dornoch, where, at the very first bout, 
Lindsay thrust his sword through Livingston's 
heart, so that in a short time he expired. Lind- 
say was immediately after unfortunately taken ; 
which when lord Glencairn heard, he dealt very 
earnestly with the general, and caused other officers 
to do the same for Lindsay 's release ; but nothing 
could prevail with him : he immediately called 
a council of war, who gave sentence that Lindsay 
should be shot to death at the cross of Dornoch, 
before four that afternoon, which was accordingly 
done. Lord Glencairn was exceedingly troubled 
at this gentleman's death : but all this must be 
done, forsooth, to please Sir George. Lord 
Glencairn took care that nothing should be want- 
ing for burying this unfortunate gentleman with 
decency : and as there was no prospect of making 
up the breach which gave occasion to this mischief, 
his lordship, on that day fortnight after his 
encounter with Munro, marched away for the 
south country. He was accompanied with none 
other save his own troop, and some gentlemen 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 75 

volunteers that were waiting for command. They 
were not in all a hundred horse. We marched 
straight for the laird of Assint's bounds. When 
the general had notice of our departure, he sent 
a strong party to bring us back, or otherwise to 
fight us. When his lordship had got safely to As- 
sint, the laird thereof came to him, and offered 
to serve him, promising to secure the passes, so 
that the whole army should not be able to reach 
him that night, though they were to come in pur- 
suit of him. His lordship was under the neces- 
sity of accepting this offer, though it was said that 
this very gentleman had betrayed and delivered 
up the great Montrose; yet most part believed 
that it was his father-in-law who betrayed that 
great nobleman, and not himself, who was young 
at that time. 

The next day his lordship marched to Kintail, 
where he was very genteelly received by the gen- 
tleman who commanded there for lord Seaforth, 
to whom the house belonged. Here he stayed some 
days to refresh both men and horses ; from that 
he marched to Lochbroom ; from Lochbroom to 
Lochaber ; from thence to Lochrannoch ; thence 
to the head of Loch Tay, to a church town called 
Killinn. He rested here for the space often days, 
till Sir George Maxwell came and joined him with 
near an hundred horsemen. 

Earl William of Selkirk also joined him with 
sixty horsemen ; and lord Forrester, with littk 
major Strachan, and one who went under the name 
of captain Gordon ; they brought with them about 
eighty horsemen. This Gordon was an English* 



76 GLENCAIRN^S EXPEDITION 

man — his real name was Portugus— he was hanged 
at the cross of Edinburgh after our capitulation, 
for running away from them with several troopers 
that he had persuaded to follow him. There 
joined us several more of our captains, and some 
of their men also. His lordship finding, that by 
the addition of these noblemen and gentlemen, 
with their troopers, his numbers were increased to 
near 400 horsemen, he thought it proper to send 
them to general Middleton, that so they might 
not be wanting in their duty to the king's service 
where occasion might offer. Accordingly they 
went and joined the general. Lord Glencairn 
contracted a violent flux, by which he was in great 
danger, so that we all thought he would have 
died. This obliged us to make but short journeys. 
There were none with him but a few gentlemen 
and his own servants. We came at last to Leven, 
and staid at the castle of Rosedoe, belonging to 
the laird of Luss. His lordship was still careful 
in sending officers to different places, to levy men 
out of the Lowlands ; and, within a month's time, 
he had got together about two hundred horse. 

We had left Middleton, the general, in Suther- 
land, in the month of April, toward the latter end 
thereof; he immediately after marched to Caith- 
ness, where he expected more forces to join him, 
both from lord Seaforth and lord Reay, as also 
others, which Munro assured him of; but he was 
disappointed of them all. 

He then marched towards the south country to 
avoid general Monk, who now had the command 
in Scotland, and had ordered Morgan to march 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 77 

with what forces could be spared out of the garri- 
sons. Monk marched his army north, and joined 
Morgan in the shire of Aberdeen. They then 
marched to the Highlands, but in different bodies, 
yet so as they should always be within a day's 
march of each other. 

Middleton, with the king's army, came to the 
side of Lochgarie, where, at a small village, he 
was resolved to encamp all night ; but Morgan, 
by his good fortune, reached the same place be- 
fore the king's army, who had no intelligence 
where their enemies were, till the van-guard was 
fired upon by Morgan's outer guard. The Eng- 
lish troop were the van of the king's army : there 
was no ground there on which they could draw up ; 
for on the one hand was the loch, and on the 
other it was so marshy, that no horse was able to 
ride it ; and on the way by the loch, two or three 
at most were all that could ride a-breast. The 
general Middleton finding this, ordered the army 
to face about ; so that the van, who were the Eng- 
lish gentlemen, became the rear. They behaved 
themselves very gallantly, but were very hard 
pressed by Morgan, who fell upon the general's 
baggage, where was his commission and all his 
papers. 

Morgan pursued so hotly, that at last he obliged 
Middleton's army to run as fast as they could. 
There was no great slaughter ; for, before they 
had passed the loch, night came on. Every man 
then shifted for himself, and went where he best 
liked. The general went off with a few ; where 
he went to I can give no account ; only he no more 



78 glencairn's expedition 

took the field, but shortly went over to his majesty 
in Flanders. 

Many of the earl of Glencairn's men who had 
been at Lochgarie, came and offered their services 
to him at Rosedoe : but he said to them, " Gen- 
tlemen, I see the king's interest in Scotland is now 
broken, the king's army being so shamefully lost 
as it hath been : and as I am now in a very bad 
state of health, I am resolved to capitulate with 
the enemy, for myself and those that are with me ; 
and, if you please, you shall be included in the 
capitulation. Consider of this, gentlemen, and 
give me your answer to-morrow, that I may know 
for how many I am to capitulate ; in the mean 
time you may go to the quarters I have appointed 
for you." 

The officers the next day waited on his lordship, 
and told him, that as they had at first joined him 
to serve the king, and as they understood from 
him, that they could not at present do his majesty 
any service, they were all willing to accept of 
whatever terms his lordship should make for them. 

His lordship immediately sent commissioners 
to capitulate with Monk, who at that time resided 
at Dalkeith ; and it was a full month before the 
business was closed. The treaty was once entirely 
broken off ; on which his lordship, who was 
informed that a party of horse and dragoons 
were quartered in Dunbarton, resolved to beat 
up their quarters. We had an outer guard at a 
ford within four miles of Dunbarton, which we 
kept in possession during the month that we lay 
in those parts. My lord ordered two hundred of 



IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 79 

his best horse, under the command of Sir George 
Maxwell of Newark, his lieutenant-colonel, to cross 
the river where the said outer guard was, and, as 
soon as he should cross, to ride on at a gallop to 
the town. This was to be done about one in the 
afternoon, when the enemy were judged to be at 
dinner. This was accordingly done to good pur- 
pose : those of the enemy that could, fled to the 
castle ; between thirty and forty of them were 
killed, and above twenty were made prisoners. 

All the horses belonging to both horsemen and 
dragoons were taken : we likewise brought away 
with us two hundred loads of corn out of the 
town. 

As soon as the news of this defeat came to gene- 
ral Monk's knowledge, he immediately brought on 
the capitulation again ; which was soon happily 
concluded on, and he agreed to much more fa- 
vourable terms than before this he would conde- 
scend to grant. 

The conditions were, that all the officers and 
soldiers should be indemnified as to their lives and 
fortunes, and that they should have passes deliver- 
ed to each to secure their safety in travelling 
through the country to their own respective homes, 
they doing nothing prejudicial to the present go- 
vernment. The officers were to be allowed all their 
horses and arms, to be disposed of as they pleased ; 
they were also to have the liberty of wearing their 
swords when they travelled through the country. 
The common soldiers were allowed to sell their 
horses ; they were obliged to deliver up their arms, 
but it was ordained that they were to receive the 



80 glencairn's expedition, &c. 

full value for them, as it should be fixed by two 
officers of lord Glencairn's, and two of general 
Monk's. All which particulars were punctually 
performed by the general. Two long tables were 
placed upon the green below the castle, at which 
all the men received their passes, and the common 
soldiers the money for their arms. 

This happened upon the 4th day of September, 
1654. The earl of Glencairn that same night 
crossed the water, and came to his own house of 
Finlayston. 



THE 



LIFE AND DEATH 



OF 



KING JAMES THE FIFTH 

OF 

SCOTLAND; 

IN WHICH 

IS THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION 
IN THAT KINGDOM : 

AN ACCOUNT 

OF THE SUFFERINGS 

OF THE 

Renowned Lady Jean Douglas, 



FROM THE FRENCH, PRINTED AT PARIS, 1612. 

<&las£xito : 

Printed by i?. Chapman, 
FOR JOHN WYLIE, AND CO. 

1819. 



THE 

PREFACE. 



THE reader will not be surprised if he find a 
variety of matters touched in this general Preface 
or introduction to the following tracts; this could 
not be well avoided in an account of Miscellaneous 
papers. 

The author of the life and death of king James 
V. was a French gentleman, and no wonder that 
he gives a more full account of several matters 
than other historians ; because that king had two 
queens from France, and many of their coun- 
trymen had considerable posts in the government 
of Scotland. Our author gives no account of af- 
fairs during the minority of that prince, which is 
generally the weakest part of a reign, and affords 
only the history of the intrigues and practices of 
ambitious politicians, who involve their country in 
blood and confusion, for the sake of ingrossing the 
whole power, or a considerable share thereof. The 
state of affairs in Scotland during this king's mi- 
nority was this; first, queen Margaret had the 
keeping of the young prince her son, and the go- 
vernment of the kingdom committed to her du- 
ring her widowhood : her brother Henry VIII. of 



84 THE PREFACE. 

England had gained her to endeavour what she 
could to lessen the inclination of the leading men 
of Scotland to the French their old confederates ; 
but she by her marriage with Archibald Douglas, 
earl of Angus, lost the administration. To bal- 
ance the English party in Scotland, the French 
king, upon the desire of the estates of the kingdom, 
sent over John duke of Albany, earl of Marche, 
Mar, and Garioch, lord of Annandale and the Isle 
of Man, count of Boulogne and Auvergne, by his 
marriage with the heiress Anne de La Tour and 
Auvergne. The French king did not openly dis- 
cover what share he had in that affair, because 
then he was forming a league with England; and 
notwithstanding all the endeavours of Henry VIII. 
to hinder the duke to come to Scotland, he 
landed in that kingdom, March 27th, 1515, his 
great misfortune was his ignoriance of the language, 
and customs, and parties there; this made him 
rely too much on the advice of John Hepburn, 
prior of St. Andrews, who in all the counsels he 
gave him, had more in his view to be revenged of 
his own enemies than the public good. The king 
of England used all methods to make the duke of 
Albany uneasy, and to possess those of most power 
in Scotland with jealousies of him, as being the son 
of a traitor, who was outlawed for levying war 
against his sovereign, and designing to dispossess 
him of the crown : that the duke was entirely in 
the interests of the French king, and had a greater 
regard to the service of that monarch than to the 
advantage and prosperity of Scotland. Queen 
Margaret, on the other hand, when there was wars 



THE PREFACE. 85 

betwixt England and Scotland, discovered all the 
duke's designs that she could come to the know- 
ledge of. This queen, upon some misunderstand- 
ing betwixt her and her husband, became at last 
weary of him, and sued for a divorce, because, as 
she said, he kept a mistress when she was in Eng- 
land : this made her live in better friendship with 
the duke than formerly. Whilst the duke was in 
France, which was from June, 1517, to September, 
1523, the earl of Angus did what he could to 
strengthen his own party, and exclude the Go- 
vernor from the administration, upon whose return 
the earl fled to England, where he was kindly re- 
ceived by Henry VIII. and was entirely gained 
to that king's interest. Henry used all means pos- 
sible to get the earl restored to his possessions in 
Scotland, but in vain ; and both by letters from 
himself, and from some eminent divines in Eng- 
land, persuaded his sister to be reconciled to her 
husband, and amongst other things reproached her 
with too great familiarity with the duke of Albany : 
though he could not get the peace made up betwixt 
her husband and her, yet she was gained to follow 
her old practice, of being a spy upon the duke, 
discovering his designs to her brother, or to his 
ministers, which in a great measure defeated all 
his purposes to invade England. At that time a 
faction began, which at last obliged the duke to 
leave Scotland, to which he never after returned, 
though he kept all his titles there : he died in his 
castle of Mirefleur, 1536, and was a prince of great 
courage ; he had the command of considerable 
forces both by sea and land, under Francis I. of 

3 






S6 THE PREFACE v 

France, in which posts he always behaved himself 
honourably ; he governed Scotland with great 
equity. When the news of his departure came to 
England, king Henry acquainted the earl of Angus 
with it, and desired him to go to Scotland, for then 
he was in France, where he had been three years. 
In the next parliament, the authority of the go- 
vernor was abrogated ; the keeping of the young 
king was intrusted to four bishops, and four noble- 
men ; who were the archbishops of St. Andrews 
and Glasgow, of Aberdeen and Dunkeld, the earls 
of Arran, Angus, Lennox, and Argyll, who were 
to be the king's tutors by turns ; but Angus at 
last got the young king into his own keeping, and 
excluded the rest. Buchanan tells us, that the 
earl of Angus encouraged the king too much in 
his youthful pleasures, either to make him easy 
under his present restraint, or to engage him so 
deep in pleasures that he might be careless of the 
government, which he thought would turn to his 
own advantage : at last the king got free from the 
earl and his party, and banished them ; the earl 
retired to England, and did not return till after 
the king's death. 

In the minority of this king, Henry VIII. by 
his ambassadors in Scotland, used all means to 
dispose him to prefer an alliance with England 
before one with France ; and for that end he sent 
him presents of fine horses and arms, which he knew 
would most readily take with the martial genius of 
this young prince ; but several noblemen, and the 
popish clergy, many of whom had benefices in 
France, persuaded him to the contrary : those 



THE PREFACE. 87 

who were for the antient league with France, al- 
ways reminded him of the strait alliance of his an- 
cestors with that nation. Because there is men- 
tion of the league in the following history, I shall 
give here a short account of it : 

All the Scotch historians agree, that it began in 
the time of Charlemagne, cotemporary with Achai- 
us king of Scotland ; it is certain that this league 
is very ancient, for in the * contract of marriage 
betwixt Francis, dauphin of France, and Mary, 
queen of Scots, April the 19th, 1558, it is said to 
be of eight hundred years' standing. The ho- 
nourable Sir James Dalrymple, in his learned his- 
torical collections thinks this a good argument of 
its antiquity. -J- Hilarion de Coste, in his Eloges 
et les vies des Dames Illustres, torn. 2, in the char- 
acter of Magdalen de France, king James Ws first 
queen, says the same. In the original instructions 
given November 15th, 1570, by the duke of Chat- 
telherault, the earls of Huntly and Argyll, Mary 
queen of Scots' lieutenants, to the bishops of Ross 
and Galloway, and the lord Livingston, to treat 
with queen Elizabeth, for queen Mary's restoration, 
in the third article it is said, < ; that the old league 
has been inviolably kept betwixt France and Scot- 
land for eight hundred years and more." Egin- 
hardus, secretary to Charlemagne, gives us an ac- 
count of the assistance the Scots gave to Charles 
in his wars. Paulus iEmilius, in his second book 
de Rebus Gestis Francorum, says, < fc Honores, 
Magistratusq ; Saxoniae, Gentibus alienigenis, et 

* Traite de paix — f Caligula, c. 2, p. 296. 



88 THE PREFACE. 

imprimis Scotis mandabat Carolus, quorum egre- 
gia fide virtuteq ; utebatur," Belleforestus, in lib. 
1, Hist. Carol. Mag. confirms this; and adds, 
€i Scotorum fideli opera non parum adjutus in Bello 
Hispanico fuerat." The occasion of the league, 
was according to Buchanan, Lesley, " Conseus de 
duplici statu Religionis apud Scotus," David Cham- 
bers, and others, that the English Saxons had in- 
vaded France and plundered the seacoast ; whilst 
Charles was absent in his wars against the Sara- 
cens, he thought it adviseable to enter into a per- 
petual alliance with the Scots, who by their near- 
ness to England, were most capable to give a di- 
version to his enemies. Achaius, who knew that 
quarrels with neighbouring princes were unavoida- 
ble, was glad of the assistance of the French. The 
articles of this league were the same with those of 
other alliances, viz. " That the French and 
Scotch were to have common friends and enemies, 
that they were to assist each other in their wars, 
and that none of the kings of the two nations were 
to make a separate peace with England." And it 
may be said, that never a treaty was more inviola- 
bly kept than this. Lesly tells us, Achaius sent 
his brother William to France with four thousand 
men to assist Charles in his wars in Italy, and in 
his absence William commanded the army. Co- 
naeus, who lived long in Italy, informs us, that 
many of William's soldiers settled there, and were 
founders of several families, as of the Barones, of 
the Mariscotti in Bononia and Siena, the Scoti in 
Placentia and Mantua. Sansovino and other 



THE PREFACE. 



89 



genealogists say, that those families began in the 
reign of Charlemagne. 

We do not believe what some historians affirm, 
that as a memorial of this league the crown of 
Scotland, which was before only a plain circle of 
gold, had another of flower de lis raised about it ; 
for the learned Mabillon, whose testimony in this 
matter is much to be depended upon, tells us, * 
that the first French kings who had the flower de 
lis on their crowns, were Philip I. and his father. 
Some also say, that upon this league, the arms of 
Scotland were inclosed in a double tressure, flowered 
and counter-flowered with flowers de lis, which is 
not probable, seeing Mabillon assures us, who is 
best acquainted of any with the seals of the French 
kings, that -f* Philip the August, who died about 
1223, was the first who had one flower de lis in 
his counter-seal ; Lewis VIII. and IX. had some- 
times one, and sometimes many, which was ob- 
served by the following kings, till the reign of 
Charles V. who reduced the flowers de lis to three : 
neither till a long time after that, did the kings of 
Scotland use their arms on their seals, as we are 
informed by that learned and judicious antiquary 
Mr. Anderson, £ who is a great judge of the an- 
tiquities of Scotland, and has had better occasions 
than any to know what belongs to the seals, char- 
ters, and coins of his country. 

At this time, as Buchanan says, barbarity and 
ignorance had not overspread Scotland so much 

* De re diplomatics, p. 424 — f Page 139. — J Independen- 
cy of Scotland, p. 66. 



90 THE PREFACE. 

as other countries ; for there were still in that na- 
tion some monks remarkable for the ancient piety 
and learning. Charles was a prince who favoured 
and encouraged men of letters, therefore he in- 
vited some of them to France. Buchanan ex- 
presses that well in his admirable poem upon the 
marriage of Mary Queen of Scots with the dau- 
phin of France. 

" Haec quoque cum Latium quateret Mars barbarus Orbera, 
Sola prope expulsis fuit Hospita terra Camaenis, &c" 

When barbarous foes the Roman bounds o'erspread, 
Thither the muses for protection fled : 
Hence Greek and Roman learning in full store, 
By Charlemagne to France was wafted o'er. 

Bede, lib. 3, Hist. chap. 27, tells us, that many 
of the noblemen's sons of England, were sent to 
Scotland to be educated, where they were enter- 
tained kindly, and had maintainance and learning 
given them gratis ; for at that time the monasteries 
were schools of learning, and not as afterwards, 
privileged places for impurity, laziness, and igno- 
rance. Before this time flourished Bonifacius a 
Scotchman, according to Marianus Scotus, lib. 2, 
ad annum, 741, and Trithemius, lib. 2, cap. 24. 
Dempster, in a dissertation concerning the coun- 
try of this Bonifacius, has nine arguments to 
prove him a Scotchman ; he was called the apostle 
of Germany, preached the gospel in many places 
of that country, and was the first archbishop of 
Mentz. Those who came to France upon Charles' 
desire, were Joannes Albinus, or Alcuinus, Charle- 
magne's preceptor, he founded the university of 



THE PREFACE. 



91 



Paris. In his 26th epistle, he calls himself Ver- 
nacwlum Scotorum, i. e. a native of Scotland. 
Bozius, torn. 2, lib. 2, cap. 9, is of the same 
opinion ; as also Boterus, &c. Buchanan says, 
he saw a book of rhetoric of which he was the 
author. At this time came also Clemens Scotus, 
who founded the university of Padua. 

The Scotch guards in France began upon this 
occasion, when Alexander III. heard that St. 
Lewis designed an expedition to the holy land, he 
sent to his assistance seven thousand soldiers, 
Lewis chose twenty-four out of that number, who 
were to have the constant keeping of his person ; 
his example was followed by his successors ; Charles 
V. added seventy-six to the former number ; 
Charles VII. besides the hundred foot guards, 
added a troop of cuirassiers of that nation, who 
were to take place of all the horse of his army. 
An * original paper, containing instructions from 
queen Mary of Scotland, to her ambassador the 
bishop of Ross, &c, at a treaty with queen Eliza- 
beth, informs us of the state of those guards in 
1570. They then consisted of a hundred men of 
arms, a hundred archers of the guards, and twenty- 
four archers of the corps, keepers of the king's 
body : after the reformation the privileges of those 
guards were greatly lessened. This is remarkable, 
that never any of those gentlemen was found guilty 
of treason, or carelessness in the defence of the 
French kings. Philip de Comines, lib 11, cap. 
12, of the life of Lewis XI. tells us, that the citi- 

* Cotton Library, Calig. c. 2, fol. 323. 



92 THE PREFACE. 

zens of Liege broke in upon the lodgings of that 
king, and had certainly killed him, had it not 
been for the valour of his Scotch guards, who 
stood about him like a wall, and with their arrows 
drove them and the Burgundians away. At the 
battle of Pavia, Francis I. was not taken till there 
were only four alive of his one hundred Scotch 
guards. It would be too tedious to give a long 
account of the privileges the Scotch nation had in 
France by that league, especially the merchants 
and students. 

Several things contributed to the weakening of 
the alliance with France; first, Henry VIII. by 
means of his sister, queen Margaret, stirred up a 
party in Scotland against those who were for the 
old league. Herbert, in the life of that king, 
tells us, that he loved interviews because he was a 
handsome prince, and n|ijde a great appearance at 
jousts and tournaments ; yet the great reason of 
his desire to meet with king James, was to alienate 
him from the friendship with France,, and to per- 
suade him to make a breach with Rome, as the 
most likely way to, attain that end : but king 
James rejected the offers of his uncle, who per- 
suaded him to a match with his daughter Mary, 
and afterwards .married with France. Francis I. 
who had heard of the danger of losing the friends 
ship of Scotland by the solicitations of Henry VIII. 
and that king James was come to France to court 
his daughter Magdalen^ he received him with all 
possible solemnity. King James entered Paris, 
December 3, 1536. Hilarion de Coste tells us, 
from the records of the parliament of Paris, that 



THE PREPACK. 93 

Francis commanded the parliament to do James 
the same honours they did himself. The senators 
objected, " that it was never their custom to at- 
tend foreign princes in their red robes/' The 
French king answered, " that he could grant king 
James no less, seeing he was his old ally, and was 
come in person to marry his daughter. " The 
marriage was solemnized the next day. * When 
Henry heard of it, he wrote to Francis, then at 
peace with him, and told him, " that his alliance 
with the Scotch king, vexed him no less than it 
would do a violent lover to see his mistress em- 
brace his mortal enemy." After the death of king 
James, Henry proposed to the estates of Scotland, 
a match betwixt his son Edward and the young 
queen Mary ; one of the conditions of it was, 
"that they should renounce their league with 
France, and that the young queen should be car- 
ried into England." They could not be brought 
to that, because Mary of Lorrain, the queen dowa- 
ger, many of the nobility, and the whole clergy, 
were against it. Upon this, Henry made war 
with Scotland, in 1543, but missed of his design, 
which was to oblige the Scotch nobility to consent 
to the match, as the only way to unite the two 
nations. After his death, the duke of Somerset, 
the protector, continued the war to the fourth 
year of Edward VI. -j* That war cost England 
one million, four hundred and thirty-two thousand, 
nine hundred and ninety-seven pounds, eleven shil- 
lings and tenpence : a great sum in those days. 

* Herbert, 444 — f 0tho > E - M- 
I 



94- THE PREFACE. 

After queen Mary was carried into France, the 
protector made peace with Scotland in 1550. 

The second thing which made many in Scotland 
averse to the friendship of the French, was the 
change of religion in that kingdom in the minority 
of queen Mary, upon this they became jealous of 
France, and thought an alliance with them would 
be dangerous to their religion ; they were afraid 
of the power of the house of Guise, for the queen 
dowager had then six brethren, viz. the duke of 
Guise, the cardinal of Lorrain, the duke d'Aumale, 
grand captain, the cardinal of Guise, the marquis 
d'Elbeuf, and the grand prior, four of them were 
remarkable for their military bravery, and had 
gained the reputation of excellent soldiers, all over 
Europe, besides that family managed the whole 
affairs of France. The protestant lords of Scot- 
land thought it their interest to seek the assistance 
of queen Elizabeth ; Lethington and Robert Mel- 
vill were sent to the court of England in 1559. 
Lethington, when he was admitted to his audience, 
in an eloquent * oration, complained, H that since 
queen Mary was married to the dauphin of France, 
the government of the kingdom was changed; 
Frenchmen had engrossed all posts of trust and 
profit, had got the strong holds of the kingdom 
into their hands, and although Scotchmen had 
titular offices, yet the French had the power : 
upon those and many other accounts, they had 
reason to believe they designed a conquest of Scot- 
land." Queen Elizabeth, who saw it was not for 

* Cambd. Hist. Q. Eliz.page 35. 



THE PREFACE. 95 

her interest that the French should settle so near 
her, and besides, longing to be revenged upon 
Francis II. and queen Mary, for their taking the 
style and arms of the kingdom of England, at 
length resolved to send forces to assist the lords of 
the congregation, to drive the French out of Leith. 
The relief which was sent them from France in 
the fleet commanded by the grand prior, was ship- 
wrecked, which obliged the French to capitulate. 
Upon the news of this, the queen dowager, an ex- 
cellent and prudent princess, died with grief. So 
the French were obliged to leave Scotland, by 
which queen Elizabeth established a party there, 
which ^was ever afterwards willing to be directed 
by her. When queen Mary returned to Scotland 
after her husband's death, queen Elizabeth always 
maintained that party to embroil all her affairs. 
Queen Mary at last was obliged to flee from Scot- 
land, and came to England, being invited by 
queen Elizabeth, who promised always to do what 
she could towards her restoration, provided she 
did not seek aid from France, which queen Mary 
observed, till sbe saw it was in vain to expect help 
from her cousin, during her imprisonment in all 
the unsuccessful treaties for her liberty. Queen 
Elizabeth always made that an article, 4< that the 
league with France should be dissolved." Queen 
Mary and the lords of her party declared, S € that 
seeing the Scotch nation had so great benefit by it, 
they could not well consent to renounce it, unless 
some equivalent advantage were proposed by queen 
Elizabeth ; and the most they could do in that 

2 



96 THE PREFACE. 

case, was to suspend that league during the lives 
of the two queens.'" 

3. But what above all ruined the French in- 
terest in Scotland, was the massacre of Paris in 
1572, which will be an everlasting reproach to 
that nation : at that time queen Mary's party was 
very strong. Upon the news of this, queen Eliza- 
beth, who knew well hdw to improve every thing 
to her own advantage, sent an ambassador to Scot- 
land, who told the protestant lords, and considera- 
ble gentlemen of queen Mary's party, " that by 
that bloody cruelty, they might understand the 
genius of popery." So by degrees they made 
their peace with the regent ; Grange would not 
acknowledge the regent's authority, but held out 
the castle against him : but queen Elizabeth sent 
artillery and forces, which obliged Grange to 
surrender. Lethington died the same year. This 
was the end of a long civil war. Cambden tells 
us, that upon this several officers and soldiers of 
both parties went over to Sweden, France, and 
the Netherlands, where they gained a great repu- 
tation for their military bravery. 

In this king's reign the protestant religion be- 
gan to be professed in Scotland, which alarmed the 
popish clergy, who by it foresaw the ruin of their 
absolute power over the consciences of the people, 
and that they were now in danger to lose those 
blessed times, when they could persuade kings and 
other rich persons, that what lands were made over 
to religious houses, as they called them, would 
certainly purchase salvation to the donor, and to 
his predecessors and successors. Scotland had one 



THE PREFACE* 97 

king, viz. king David I. who founded fourteen 
monasteries, and erected four bishoprics •, the 
priests in gratitude got him sainted, which signi- 
fied no more, but an easy bigotted prince. King 
James I. of Scotland, called him u a sad saint to 
the crown " If we consider the extent of Scot- 
land, no kingdom had more religious places than 
it, and some of them of magnificent architecture. 
At length the government began to be sensible 
that the priests, seeing they had a foreign de- 
pendance on Rome, were bad subjects ; to prevent 
the consequences of which, we find several acts of 
parliament forbidding them to go to Rome without 
license from the king, or the chancellor of the 
kingdom ; neither were they to go thither to ob- 
tain the collation of benefices in Scotland, as 13 
evident from James I. pari. 7, act 106 ; James III. 
pari. 6, act 42; James III. pari. 11, act 84; 
king James IV. pari. 4, act 38; king James IV. 
pari. 5, act 53. The popish authors, as Lesly, 
Camerarius, Conaeus and others, own, that when 
the change of religion began, many things contri- 
buted to the contempt of their clergy, of which 
these were most remarkable, viz. that by the am- 
bition of the nobility, children were made bishops 
and abbots ; that if any of their sons, by reason 
of imperfections either of body or mind, were in- 
capable of civil business, they were made priests ; 
that many of the rich abbots neglected their 
charge, and committed the management of their 
offices to others, whilst they in the meantime aban- 
doned themselves to luxury and idleness ; that the 
clergy at that time were deeply engaged in whore*. 

3 



98 THE PREFACE. 

dom, for common harlots were frequently their 
domestics ; and those who had solemnly devoted 
themselves to religion, spent most of their time 
both night and day in taverns, &c. : and even the 
nuns, those christian vestals, were often debauched 
by their priests. These things lessened the re- 
gard formerly paid to their order, bred discon- 
tents amongst the people, which prepared them to 
shake off their yoke. No doubt but in this change, 
as well as in other revolutions, interest and other 
passions had their share. To prevent that storm 
which threatened them, the popish clergy per- 
suaded king James to persecute the protectants, 
as the way to atone for all his sins, and to secure 
the peace of his kingdom ; they had but too much 
power over this prince, for when his uncle invited 
him to an interview, they represented how wicked 
a thing it was to have any conference with an ex- 
communicated person, which in great measure 
hindered it. * The pope, to secure the obedience 
of this king, who was still a dutiful son of the 
church, sent over his legate Antonio Campeggio 
in 1535, who, with many ceremonies and apostoli- 
cal benedictions, delivered him a cap, and a sword, 
consecrated the night of the nativity of our Saviour, 
that it might breed a terror in the heart of a 
wicked neighbouring prince, against whom the 
sword was sharpened. The pope in his letter to 
him complained of the affronts that Henry of Eng- 
land had done to the church of Rome by his di- 
vorce, the executing of cardinal Fisher, the bishop 

* Dr ummond's history of this king. 



THE PREFACE. 99 

of Rochester, &c. and that by patience she receiv- 
ed more wrongs, and that now she was obliged to 
use a searing iron, for the application of which she 
had recourse to his majesty, whose aid she im- 
plored, seeing Henry deserved to be dethroned ; 
therefore the pope desired the king of Scotland to 
undertake something for the defence of the church, 
worthy of a christian king, and himself. King 
James dissuaded the pope to excommunicate his 
uncle, and promised to endeavour what he could 
by letters or messages to reclaim him. * King 
James at that tim'e took the title of " Defender of 
the Christian Faith," which offended his uncle 
Henry, because it was his title. The protestant 
religion made no great progress in this king's reign ; 
but, in the minority of queen Mary, the protestants 
became a considerable body, and what above all 
things made the popish religion odious in Scotland, 
was the cruelty of the clergy : the cardinal of Lor- 
rain and the duke of Guise were for violent perse- 
cuting methods, D'Oysel was recalled because he 
was suspected of Calvinism, and was succeeded by 
the bishop of Amiens, the pope's nuncio, after- 
wards a cardinal, and la Brosse, the ambassador, 
who complained to the queen regent that she used 
too much moderation to the heretics, who deserved 
to be punished with death and loss of their pos- 
sessions. Mary of Lorrain, who knew the un- 
daunted and fierce temper of the Scots, saw the 
danger of such proceedings, but she was gained 
over at last to those severe methods ; and when- 

* Herbert, 519. 



100 THE PREFACE. 

ever she began to persecute, the lords of the con- 
gregation disowned her authority. 

In this king's reign * gold mines were found in 
Crawfurd moor by the Germans, which afforded 
him great sums ; they would not refine it in Scot- 
land, but after they had bargained with the king, 
they carried over the ore with them to Germany. 
Besides those mines in Crawfurd moor, we have 
an account of others not far from it. f In king 
James IWs reign, the Scots did separate gold 
from sand by washing. In king James V.'s time, 
three hundred were employed for several summers 
in washing of gold, of which they got above a 
hundred thousand pounds of English money ; by 
the same way the laird of Marchestone got gold 
in Pentland-hills ; great plenty has been got in 
Langham water, fourteen miles from Leadhill- 
house, in Crawfurd moor, and in Megget water, 
twelve miles, and over Phinland, sixteen miles from 
that house; and in many other places, where pieces 
of gold of thirty ounces weight have been found, 
which were flat mixed with hie spar, some with 
keel, and some with brimstone. 

In this king's reign the order of the thistle was 
in great splendour ; for he being honoured with 
the order of the garter from England, that of St. 
Michael from France, and the golden fleece from 
the emperor, he sent also his own order to those 
princes ; he celebrated the festivals of them all, 
and set the arms of each prince, with their orders 
about them, over the gate of his palace of Lithgow, 

* Lesly, Druramond.— t 0tho > E * la 



THE PREFACE. 101 

and erected his own in the midst, with the order 
of St. Andrew. May 29, 1687, at Windsor, king 
James VII. of Scotland renewed it : in the act for 
the reviving it, we have the account of its original ; 
(but when the statutes of that order were first 
made, and the cognizances of the knights appoint- 
ed, is not so certain). The records give this fur- 
ther account of that order, <c that it consisted of 
twelve knights brethren, and a sovereign, in imi- 
tation of our Saviour and the twelve apostles, un- 
der the protection of St. Andrew and the holy 
virgin, for the defence of the christian religion ; 
that it was evident from ancient histories, authen- 
tic proofs, records, and documents of that kingdom, 
that it continued in splendour for many hundred 
years, was worn by several foreign princes and 
kings, and honoured in all places of Christianity 
till the reign of Mary queen of Scotland, when 
the splendour both of the church and monarchy 
fell into contempt ; then the order with its cere- 
monies was extinguished ; some of the knights, in 
rebellious contempt of queen Mary, laid the en- 
signs of that order aside, others of them fled to 
foreign countries." But in her majesty's patent 
for the reviving of it, December 31, 1703, the ac- 
count of the disuse of it is not so reflecting upon 
the reformers ; the words of the records are as 
follows : w the order of the thistle was very hon- 
ourable all over Europe ; but by the continued 
wars, and intestine troubles, after king James V.'s 
death, and two long successive minorities, the 
splendour of the crown was in many things, and 



102 THE PREFACE. 

by many ways, clouded, and amongst others, the 
regard to this order lessened." 

The oath of this order, in king James VII.'s 
time, was, " I shall fortify and defend the true 
christian religion to the utmost of my power ; I 
shall be loyal and true to my sovereign the king, 
sovereign of this most ancient, and most noble 
order of the thistle, and the brethren of the order. 
I shall maintain the statutes, privileges, and hon- 
ours, of the said order. I shall never bear treason 
about in my heart against our sovereign the king, 
but I shall discover the same to him : so help me 
God and the holy church." This oath was a 
little reformed by her majesty, for instead of the 
true christian religion, it is now the true protestant 
religion ; and the holy church, at the end, was left 
out. 

In king James V.'s life, our author has given a 
large account of the sufferings, bravery, and chas- 
tity, of the famous lady Jean Douglas, sister of 
the earl of Angus ; we have in the Scotch history 
another instance of the courage and loyalty of a 
lady of the same family. In the reign of king 
James I. some wicked subjects had conspired 
against the life of the king, who was one of the 
best of princes : this lady, then one of the maids 
of honour, when she saw these murderers coming 
to assassinate the king, did run to the king's cham- 
ber door to shut it ; but finding the bar taken 
away, thrust her arm in the place of it, and kept 
the door shut till the conspirators broke her arm 
in pieces, and entered the chamber, where they 
killed the king : so that family, which has had so 



THE PREFACE. 103 

many men remarkable for bravery, has also had 
women, who, in spite of their sex, have been re- 
markable for their courage. 

The second treatise amongst those miscellanies, 
is the navigation of king James V.round Scotland; * 
the author of it was Nicholas d'Arfeville, chief 
cosmographer of the French king. In 1546, the 
lord Dudly, the English admiral, invited him to 
England; Mr. John Ferrier, who continued Hector 
Boethius' > history, assisted him to translate it into 
French, after which he presented it to Henry II. 
of France ; the author, by the command of the 
French king, afterwards, in 1547, went with six* 
teen galleys commanded by the Sieur Leon Stroza, 
prior of Capua, and admiral of all the galleys of 
France, to besiege the castle of St. Andrews, which 
then held out, being garrisoned by those who had 
killed cardinal Beatoun. -f- Drummond gives this 
account of that voyage, u that king James sailed 
with five well-manned ships, and gave out that he 
designed to steer his course to France ; but it is 
more likely he designed to try the behaviour of the 
great men of the kingdom in his absence ; he ar- 
rived at Orkney, placed garrisons in some forts, 
and sailed about the islands of Sky and the Lewis ; 
he surprised the chief of the clans of those high- 
land islanders, whom he sent as hostages to the 
castles of Dunbarton and Edinburgh : and when, 
by the skill of one Alexander Lindsay his pilot, he 
had sounded the remotest rocks of his kingdom, he 
was driven by storms to land at St. Ninians, near 

* See vol. iii. of this Collection.— -J* Drummond, page 309. 



s 104 THE PREFACE. 

Whitehorn in Galloway.*" This voyage did so 
terrify those islanders, that it brought long peace 
and quietness to those places afterwards. This ac- 
tive and brave prince, not only ventured his life in 
pursuing and apprehending robbers and highway- 
men, which had been neglected in his minority, 
but his care extended to the most remote islands 
and rocks of his kingdom ; by this voyage he hum- 
bled those leaders who thought they might set up 
for themselves, and exercise tyranny over their 
vassals and tenants. No doubt he had the advan- 
tage of the fishing of herrings and other fish in his 
view, which was made more easy, when the safest 
harbours amongst those dangerous rocks were dis- 
covered, the dangers and the way to avoid them 
shown, and a full account given of the distances 
and courses, and the points to which the tides 
flowed, and the times of full sea. This may be of 
considerable use to those who sail about those islands 
for fishing or otherways : it cannot fail to please 
the curious, being the navigation of a king, and 
never before published in the English tongue. 

The third treatise in these miscellanies is the 
Chamaeleon, * written by the famous Mr. George 
Buchanan against Lethington, and never before 
published : that he is the author of it, is evident 
from the testimony of Cambden his cotemporary, 
who -f- gives us this account of the matter, " that 
in 1573, Lethington was sent to Leith, where he 
died of sickness, yet not without suspicion of poi- 
son : a man amongst the Scots of greatest expe- 

* $ee vol. ii. of this Collection.— f Hist, of queen Eliz. p. 198. 



THE PREFACE. 105 

rience, and of an excellent wit, had it been less 
wavering." Upon which account George Buchanan 
his emulator, in a paper of his which he intituled 
the Chamaeleon, sets him forth in his lifetime as 
one more mutable than the Chamaeleon, and sharp- 
ly taxeth him as a fickle colour changing enemy 
to the king's grandmother, his mother, Murray, 
the king himself, and to his country. The learned 
Sir Robert Sibbald, in his commentary on the 
life of Buchanan, says, Buchanan is the author of 
Chamaeleon, but had not seen that paper. Their 
is a passage in it which determines this matter ; 
for the author speaks of his being at the conference 
at York and Hamptoncourt ; now it is certain that 
Buchanan was there, where Murray and his party 
had need of his eloquence and wit to accuse queen 
Mary. The lives and characters of great men are 
always instructing, when written by those who 
were capable of such a work : none doubt of Buch- 
anan's ability, if we were equally certain of his 
impartiality ; but to do him justice, he is not sin- 
gular in giving that character of inconstancy and 
shifting parties to Lethington, for * Spotswood 
gives the same account of him : 4 * Lethington," 
says he, 4< was displeased with the advancement of 
David Rizio to be secretary to queen Mary, be- 
cause his credit was thereby impaired ; yet being 
one that could put on any disguise on his nature, 
of all others he most fawned on this Italian." Page 
196, he says, " that Lethington had a great hand 
in the discords betwixt queen Mary and her hus- 

• Page 189. 

K 



106 THE PREFACE. 

band, and persuaded her to a divorce ;" for says 
Spotswood " by his subtle flatteries he had got 
again into favour with the queen." * In another 
place, he says, c < that Lethington had often changed 
his party." When he gives an account of his 
death in 1573, he says, f " that he was a man of 
a deep wit, great experience, and one whose coun- 
sels was held in that time for oracles ; but variable 
and unconstant, turning and changing from one 
faction to another, as he thought it to be most for 
his interest : this greatly lessened his reputation, 
and failed him at the last." The author of the 
memoirs of the affairs of Scotland, published by 
Mr. Crawfurd, says, J "that Morton was no 
stranger to Lethington's shifting temper, who was 
out of his element, but when his hand was in a 
plot." Though Buchanan makes Lethington a bad 
man, yet by the account he gives of him, we may 
easily see he has been a very great man ; and in 
the sixteenth book of his history he owns, ** that 
Lethington was a youth of a vast genius, and great 
learning." Queen Elizabeth, in an original letter || 
to the earl of Sussex, August 12, 1570, gives a 
very great character of Lethington ; she is admira- 
bly well pleased with a letter that Sussex had 
written to him, and that in the affairs he had to 
negotiate with Lethington he had escaped his cun- 
ning, who says she, t6 is accounted the flower of 
the wits of Scotland. " Randolph and others, who 
at that time wrote to Sussex, warned him to be 
cautious in his transactions with Lethington : and 



* Page 244— f Pa £ e 272-— t Pa S e 273 — II Cal « c - 2 > fol « 225 « 



THE PREFACE. 107 

queen Elizabeth, by her ambassador in Scotland, 
used all possible means to bring him off from queen 
Mary's party which he managed; because she 
knew that his wit was still a source of new contri- 
vances to make her uneasy. Buchanan in this 
paper tell us, " that it was Lethington who dis- 
covered all Murray's and his party's secrets to the 
bishop of Ross, queen Mary's ambassador, at the 
conference at York, for Murray durst not leave 
him behind him ;" which is probable enough, see- 
ing he went there against his will. The duke of 
Norfolk was blamed for this, the suspicion of which 
was the first reason why queen Elizabeth hated 
him, and it was one of the articles of his impeach- 
ment. 

Buchanan was the first who reduced resistance 
of kings and queens to a system ; his book, de 
Jure Regni apud Scotos, was written about the 
year 1567, which is clear both from the preface of 
it, as also by the dialogue itself, where it appears 
that then queen Mary was prisoner in Lochleven 
castle ; for after he had spoken of Darnley's death, 
he says " si Reginam in Ordinem Redigi moleste 
ferunt, &c." Blackwood, who was his contempo- 
rary, in his Apologia pro Regibus, which he wrote 
to confute the dialogue de Jure Regni, &c. assures 
us, that it was in manuscript long before it was 
published. After this time many books were 
printed upon the same subject, as Stephani Junii 
Bruti vindiciae contra Tyrannos, which was never 
published till the year 1581, though to conceal the 
author, in the title page it is said to be printed at 
Edinburgh, in 1579, but the true author was Hu- 

2 



108 THE PREFACE. 

bert Languet, a French protestant, as we are in- 
formed by Joannes Petrus Ludovicus, who wrote 
his life, printed in 1700. Bayle in his dictionary 
is of the same opinion. Hottomanni Franco Gallia, 
was also printed in 1581, and Mariana's book, de 
Regis et Regum Institutione, was not published 
till long after. 

Buchanan's pen has procured him a great many 
enemies : no wonder that all the popish authors 
hate him, because both in his history and his poems 
he has exposed that party. Camerarius is his most 
bitter enemy, he always calls him a " profane per- 
son;" and in page 269 of his book de Fortitudine 
Scotorum, &c. says, « that he fled from Scotland 
because he was accused of Judaism, and had eaten 
the paschal lamb." Spondanus has the same story, 
ad anmim 1539, and quotes Camerarius for it, who 
has given no vouchers to induce us to believe him. 
Lesly who had better opportunities to be acquain- 
ted with this, tells us nothing of it. Blackwood 
tells us, H that he fled from Scotland, because he 
was suspected to be guilty of treason," but not 
one word of his Judaism ; for at that time he had 
disobliged the Franciscans by a poem of his, and 
they stirred up a great many enemies against him : 
if that story had been true, he had not been suffered 
to have lived three years at Bourdeaux ; nor had 
got out of the prisons of the inquisition at Portu- 
gal : the ground of that scandal has been no other 
than this, he and some of his friends had been eat- 
ing lamb before Easter, the malice of the priests 
could easily turn it into a paschal lamb, and make 
Judaism out of it. Garasse, Doctrine Curieuse, 



THE PREFACE. 109 

page 50, makes an atheist of him, and that a little 
before his death he refused to pray to God, and 
said, * he knew no other prayer but a profane ode 
of Propertius's, which he repeated, and so died." 
We have more reason to believe Sir James Melvill, 
who frequently conversed with Buchanan, and was 
no great friend of his, who in his Memoirs, page 
125, gives Buchanan the character of being a re*- 
ligious man. His dialogue, de Jure Regni, has 
made all that are for passive obedience and non-re- 
sistance his enemies ; because there he treats sove- 
reign princes with very little ceremony ; and his 
Detectio Mariae has displeased those who have any 
regard for the memory of Mary queen of Scots : 
his best friends have wished that he had written 
with more temper, and had given vouchers for 
what he asserts in his history. The Chamaeleon 
was written originally in English, we have changed 
nothing. 



THE 

HISTORY 

OF 

The Life and Death 

OF 

JAMES THE FIFTH, 

KING OF SCOTLAND; 

TOGETHER 

Wtfb tie Craijtart W&ov$ 

OF THE 

RENOWNED LADY JEAN DOUGLAS, &c. 



WHEN king James V. was twenty-four years 
old, his subjects addressed him, that now it was 
necessary for him to marry, because nothing would 
more effectually contribute to the safety of his 
person, the breaking the force of the present fac- 
tions, and the settling the public peace, than chil- 
dren. Upon the report of this, four of the greatest 
princes of Europe most earnestly desired his alli- 
ance. Henry VIII. king of England, who had 
the same inclinations with his predecessors to an- 
nex Scotland to England, offered him the princess 



112 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

Mary, his daughter by queen Catherine ; and for 
that end he sent William Howard, brother to the 
duke of Norfolk, to the court of Scotland, to nego- 
tiate an interview betwixt the two kings, that they 
might confer together about affairs that concerned 
their own peace, and that of their subjects ; he as- 
sured the king, that upon the consummating of 
that marriage, his master would declare him his 
successor to the crown of England ; and as a tes- 
timony of the sincerity of his intention, king James 
should immediately be created duke of York, and 
lieutenant-general of England. Nothing could be 
more desirable than this, which certainly would 
have put an end to the inveterate hatred betwixt 
the two kingdoms, which had occasioned so great 
expense of blood and treasure, in room of which a 
sincere amity would have followed. But unluckily 
at that time two kinds of persons had an ascendant 
over the spirit of that prince, who dissuaded him 
both from the match, and the interview. In the 
first place, the churchmen were afraid if that mar- 
riage had been concluded, the king would easily 
be persuaded to a change of religion, seeing al- 
ready he was sufficiently displeased with the ava- 
rice of several of the pope's legates in Scotland, 
and according to the example of his uncle Henry 
VIII. he might be brought to establish the pro- 
testant religion, and abolish popery ; so to pre- 
vent those consequences, they represented to the 
king, *' that his mortal enemy, Henry VIII. had 
no other view, in desiring so earnestly that con- 
ference, but to ensnare him, and had a design 
upon his liberty ; that it would be an instance of 



OF KING JAMES V. 113 

extreme easiness and rashness, to endanger his 
crown, life, and liberty, for the sake of those amu- 
sing promises. They reminded him how barbar- 
ously his predecessor king James I. had been 
treated by Henry II. who, though he landed in 
England even in the time of a truce, was there de- 
tained prisoner eighteen years, and at last his 
subjects were forced to pay eighteen thousand 
crowns for his ransom ; and seeing we are to mea- 
sure mankind more by what has been, than what 
ought to be, it was needful to remember that king's 
never fail to improve all opportunities against their 
enemies ; and that they have always a greater re- 
gard to satisfy their ambition, than to avoid the 
reproaches due to infamous and unjust actions. 

"And from the time he fell into his uncle's power, 
he may expect to be entirely determined by his 
pleasure and humours, Further, that Henry not 
only intended to seize his person, and invade his 
kingdom ; but above all, he designed to ruin his 
soul, and poison it with his own heresy, to which 
he was proselyted by the sinful liberty it allowed 
him to live according to his lusts ; so it is no won- 
der that sensual princes are easily perverted to 
that error : and in fine, seeing his person, con- 
science, and kingdom, would be in visible danger, 
it was no ways safe for him to enter into any con- 
ference with such a politic and designing prince, 
who would use all possible means to seduce 
him from that faith, which was professed and 
taught in Scotland earlier than in any other king- 
dom in Christendom." On the other hand, James 
Hamilton, earl of Arran, next heir to the crown, 



114 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

used all his interest and endeavours to disappoint 
that interview, and defeat the designed alliance ; 
so to disguise his true motive, he insinuated, " that 
the match with the princess Mary would not an- 
swer the end of it, which was, to have an heir to 
the crown as soon as possible ; for because of her 
childhood she would not be marriageable for a 
long time, and that the marriage of an infant was 
not at all adviseable, in the case of a prince, who 
was already weary of a single life. It would be 
seen that his uncle's promises and performances 
were as contrary as falsehood and truth; in a 
word, that it was evident to a}l thinking people, 
that the king of England (was chiefly moved to 
that match, that by it he might at any time more 
easily enter Scotland, to embroil the kingdom, and 
to contrive his pernicious designs." King James 
was so sensibly moved by those reasons, that he 
was over-persuaded to dismiss the English ambas- 
sadors, with acknowledgments of the great thanks 
he owed to his uncle Henry VIII. though in the 
mean time he did not give a positive refusal. 

Immediately after, the emperor Charles V. dis- 
patched his ambassador, Henry Godscallo, secretly 
from Toledo, to Edinburgh; the emperor had 
nothing more at heart at that time than to weaken 
France, which was the greatest obstacle to the 
progress of his victories, towards the compassing 
of which, it was most adviseable to endeavour to 
break the old alliance betwixt France and Scot- 
land. 

When Godscallo was admitted to the king's 
presence, he began his harangue thus : "This is 



OP KING JAMES V. 115 

the peculiar advantage of illustrious virtue, that it 
engages even those who have not the happiness to 
be witnesses of it, to admire and love it ; the re- 
putation of your abilities has reached the ears of 
my master the emperor, though unacquainted with 
your person, which has induced him to send me to 
you, as a proof of the great esteem he has of your 
merit ; upon that consideration he designs to ho- 
nour you with his alliance, which he refused to 
other kings not inferior to you in power and va- 
lour, and for you he has reserved that favour. He 
offers you the choice of two persons, very dear to 
him, viz. madam Mary of Austria, his sister, wi- 
dow of Lewis king of Hungary, or of madam 
Mary of Portugal, his niece, the daughter of his 
own sister, the lady Eleanor of Austria, both de- 
scended from the imperial eagle, who disdained 
alliance with any but with invincible hearts, such 
as yours is. Consider, Sir, that none of your pre- 
decessors had ever such an honour done them, 
that a triumphant emperor, who by his numerous 
and victorious armies, is a match for all the po- 
tentates of the earth, should court your alliance ; 
not that he expects any aid from you by this mar- 
riage, but his only inducement is, to satisfy the 
great inclination he has to love and oblige you." 

This haughty and insolent speech had cer- 
tainly provoked the king to answer him in his 
own way, if reasons of state and prudence had riot 
hindered him ; so he practised that modesty, which 
a great prince ought to observe in all his actions, 
and excused Godscallo's behaviour, and imputed 



116 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

it either to the genius of the nation, or to his edu- 
cation. 

The king answered him very courteously, and 
told him, " that his interest and that of his people 
were inseparably united, so that it was no wonder 
if he could determine nothing in a matter, on which 
the happiness or misery of his subjects very much 
depended, without the advice of his nobility and 
chief ministers of state ; but would so soon as pos- 
sible convene them, to know their minds in that 
matter." 

After this the king set out for Stirling, where 
he summoned the estates of parliament to meet 
him ; when they were assembled, he communica- 
ted to them the emperor's proposals, which were 
debated publicly in parliament. The king then 
observed many, but chiefly the churchmen, to be 
very inclinable to that match, as the best expe- 
dient to preserve the peace of the kingdom. 
Amongst whom the archbishop of Glasgow, a man 
of experience and piety, being warmed with zeal 
for the public good, made the following speech : 
M Sir, it is criminal for us, next to the worship of 
God, to account any thing dearer than the person 
of our king, and the good of our country ; upon 
which two, turns the small happiness this mortal 
life of ours is capable of; the relation betwixt 
which is such, that we cannot watch for the safety 
of the one, unless we provide for the preservation 
of the other, whence it comes that we are sharers 
in the good or evil that befals our kings ; and on 
the other hand, our calamities impairs the strength 
of our sovereigns, and disarms their courage. Upon 



OF KING JAMES V. 117 

this consideration, when in the time of your minori- 
ty, we your subjects felt so sensibly the wrath of 
heaven, and suffered both by foreign and domestic 
wars, which so dispirited us, that we were upon 
the point of leaving our native country, and the 
sepulchres of our forefathers, and to travel toother 
nations, where we might die in peace, if we had 
not been restrained by the hopes we conceived, 
that your being of age, would put an end to our 
troubles, and that then you would strengthen your 
self with some honourable alliance, whereby we 
might be rescued from ruin. Now when we are 
possessed of that blessing which we so long wished 
for, and when such a victorious and powerful 
prince as the emperor Charles V. is desirous of 
your friendship, and offers you the choice of two 
fair and virtuous princesses of his family ; what 
can now hinder that happiness, on which depends 
your glory, and our safety ? Your neighbour, 
Henry VIII. is the declared enemy of your king- 
dom, and your consciences, and waits for an occa- 
sion to embroil the affairs of Scotland ; and seeing 
he has miscarried in his designs to subdue our 
country : the prospect he has to sow his heresy 
amongst us, is some comfort to his malicious spirit. 
But so soon as he shall see you allied with the 
house of Austria, he will abandon all his enter- 
prises against you, and turn his designs another 
way. We observe many families in this nation 
already infected with this heresy, who upon this 
marriage will think of returning to the church, 
or of retiring to England. In a word, seeing this 
match is so visibly necessary for the support of 

L 



118 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

your kingdom, and the cause of religion, therefore 
why should the discourses of those prevail upon 
you, who dissuade you from that alliance, either 
out of hatred to the Austrian family, or to promote 
their particular interests ? How vain is it to be 
jealous, that the emperor designs to invade Scot- 
land, and thinks by that match he shall have a 
pretence for such a design, seeing he has work 
enough nearer home for his victorious arms ? If 
you delay the the embracing of those offers, Henry 
VIII. waits for an occasion to defeat that treaty, 
being enraged that you refused to marry his daugh- 
ter ; whose resentment may be dangerous at this 
time, when the kingdom is much weakened by a 
long minority, and former wars, and by the present 
parties and factions : do not therefore, Sir, delay 
that work, which is so much for the glory of God, 
the advancement of religion, the support of your 
crown, and the peace of your subjects." 

This discourse made some impression upon the 
kings the rest of the counsellors observing the 
king's inclination, were upon the reserve, and de- 
clined giving their opinion, either because they 
would not discover that their sentiments differed 
from his, or that it is dangerous to give advice to 
young kings in the affairs of their marriage ; for 
if every thing do not answer their expectation, 
those who recommended that match are sure to 
bear the blame ; though frequently their pretended 
disappointment is rather to be attributed to their 
own inconstancy and fickle humour, than the un- 
faithfulness of their ministers. This reset vedness 
displeased the king, who expected that their zeal 



OF KING JAMES V. 119 

for the good of their country, would have made 
them speak their minds freely ; and having shown 
his displeasure at their conduct, he peremptorily 
commanded Mr. Thomas Erskine, the master of 
requests, a person of great experience, and can- 
dour, to declare his opinion about the matches pro- 
posed by the emperor. In obedience to the king's 
command, Mr. Erskine made the following speech. 
" If the regard due to your majesty had not 
hindered me to speak upon this affair without your 
express commands, you should have known my 
sentiments before this time. The proposed alliance 
with the emperor is extremely dangerous, and 
that the rather, because the bad consequences of 
it are not foreseen. None can deny that those 
offers by so great a prince are very much for your 
honour, notwithstanding which, you ought to con- 
sider the issue ; for frequently pernicious designs 
lie hid under the colour of marriage. It is a long 
time, Sir, since ambition has banished true love 
and sincerity from the marriages of kings ; for we 
see daily, that most princes have chiefly in their 
view, by such treaties, either their own interest, or 
the ruin of their new allies. You may be assured 
the emperor is not so disinterested in this matter 
as he pretends. His design is to draw you off 
from the French, your old allies, that he may the 
more easily attack you, when you are engaged by 
articles to give them no assistance. It is visible to 
every body, that these many years he has had no- 
thing more at heart than the destruction of France, 
the greatest hinderance of the universal monarchy 
he has projected : his exorbitant ambition has no 



120 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

bounds ; for the end of one conquest is but a 
plausible pretext to begin another. And if desart 
and barren places, and the very distant rocks of the 
sea are not safe from his arms, you have no reason 
to think, but that he will also pretend some quarrel, 
that he may begin a war with you : for ambition 
is a savage beast which spares none ; and frequent- 
ly the nearest relations are most exposed to its 
fury. This obliges the father to have a watchful 
eye over the son, and frequently the tie of nature 
is not strong enough to restrain the son from rob- 
bing his father of his crown ; and what may then 
be expected in the case of a more remote relation ? 
Therefore you have no reason to trust in that al- 
liance with the emperor ; for reasons of state, and 
his own convenience, will certainly determine him 
more than alliances, or any other considerations. 
His pretended love to you is not so much the 
reason of that proposal (which he would be glad 
to have you believe) as his design to make a party 
in your kingdom, to entice your officers to desert 
your service, to disunite you from your ancient 
friends, and to sow the seeds of faction and divi- 
sion amongst your subjects, that when a fit oppor- 
tunity shall offer, he may wrest the sceptre out of 
your hands ; which he would never have attemp- 
ted, if you had not entered into treaties and alli- 
ances with him. And suppose his designs are not 
so bad, his conduct in this matter shows, that he 
is afraid least you should reject his alliance, seeing 
he gives you the choice of two princesses, both of 
his blood, that you may be the less excusable if 
you refuse his offers. What treatment may you 



DP KINO JAMES V. 



121 



expect from him after the marriage, when already, 
though their is no tie or treaty betwixt you, his 
ambassadors propose that affair with such haughty 
insolence, as if that you alone, and not the emperor, 
were to have honour by that alliance ? we all know 
that eagle which Godscallo boasts of is the arms 
of the empire, which, being elective, if merit and 
valour gave as good a title to it as intrigue, soli- 
citation, and cabals, you might bid as fair for it 
as himself. It is sufficiently apparent, that mar- 
riage, instead of being advantageous to you, will 
make all your neighbours jealous of you, and your 
allies suspicious, without any real assurance of as- 
sistance from him in your greatest necessity ; and 
when you are attacked by your enemies, any aid 
you can expect from him will always come too 
late, whatever timely notice you give ; his troops 
would no sooner land in your kingdom, but you 
must expect the same plunderings and ravages 
from them as from an enemy's. And how ridicu- 
lous is it to fancy, that the catholic faith professed 
in Scotland shall receive any support from that 
alliance ? as if the Scots wanted to learn religion 
from them, who received the christian religion 
long before the Spaniards. Their lives are neither 
so exemplary, nor their eloquence so persuading, 
that we are in any want of their instructions: 
there are many princes in Europe whose alliance 
is more for your interest, for which, I hope, Sir, 
you will reserve yourself; the emperor's proposals 
flowing from such a selfish principle, can never ad- 
vance the honour of God ; and how can you ex- 
pect any advantage by it, seeing it will infallibly 

3 



122 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

engage your person in constant dangers ? and little 
satisfaction can your subjects reap from it ; because 
your marriage will be so far from putting an end 
to their miseries, as they hoped it would, that it 
will only serve to increase them.'' 

This discourse pleased the king so well that he 
was resolved immediately to give an audience of leave 
to the imperial ambassador, wherein he told him in a 
few words, You may acquaint your master the em- 
peror, that I am very sensible of his affection by the 
offers he has made me ; and that he conquers as 
much by his civilities as by his arms : the kind of- 
fers of his alliance has so gained upon me, that none 
of the princes of his own house can be more 
ready to please him than I am ; but I hope he 
will excuse me, if I do not presently embrace 
these obliging offers ; because I am not yet disen- 
gaged from the match proposed by the king of 
England before your coming to this country. I 
desire you to assure the emperor, that upon all 
occasions I shall testify, the sense I have of this 
great favour. 

Scarcely had Godscallo left the kingdom, when 
Christiern II. king of Denmark, sent to him, to 
know if he were content to marry either the lady 
Dorothy his eldest daughter, or the lady Elizabeth 
of Austria, the emperor Charles V.'s sister; not- 
withstanding she had been pre-contracted to Fred- 
eric, elector palatine of the Rhine ; for this king 
had more regard to his interest than to his promise. 
The beauty, and other accomplishments of this 
lady were such, that king James had certainly 
consented to marry her, if he had not been unwil- 



OF KING JAMES V. 123 

ling to displease the emperor who was guarrantee 
of the treaty of marriage betwixt her and the elec- 
tor. 

Whilst those designs, which heaven blasted, 
were contriving against France, Francis I. on his 
part neglected nothing that was necessary to pre- 
serve the ancient alliance with Scotland ; and king 
James on his part, to show the affection he had to 
France, resolved at last to match with some of the 
royal family of that kingdom, from whence he 
could expect the surest assistance when his affairs 
wanted it. For this end he sent his ambassadors 
to France, viz. James earl of Murray, his bastard 
brother, William Stuart, bishop of Aberdeen, 
John Erskine, and Robert Reists, to negotiate a 
marriage betwixt him and the lady Magdalen of 
France ; the French king received them courteous- 
ly, but was greatly at a loss what to do in that 
matter, seeing the design of the marriage was to 
tie the two kingdoms together by a more close al- 
liance : he was afraid that both their enemies 
would make use of that match as a handle to disu- 
nite them, because king James could not promise 
himself any children by his daughter, who was a 
sickly lady, so in the end would rather prove the 
occasion of indifference betwixt them : Francis 
therefore proposed to the ambassadors a match be- 
twixt their master and the lady Mary of Bourbon, 
the daughter of Charles duke of Vendosme ; the 
ambassadors refused to treat about it without in- 
structions from king James, so desired time to ac- 
quaint him with the proposal, and to know his 
pleasure. 



124 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

Now whilst king James waited for news from 
his ambassadors, his kingdom being then in per- 
fect peace, this active prince not loving to stay 
long in one place, resolved* under colour of visit- 
ing his ports and havens, to sail round his king- 
dom, even to the Western Isles, that he might con- 
strain some gentlemen there to be better subjects, 
who living at a great distance from the court, and 
that in places naturally fortified and strong, thought 
they might be dispensed with as to any obedience 
to their sovereign. Upon his arrival he ordered 
the building of two forts, the one upon his own 
charge, the other at the expense of the bishop of 
the isles, to curb the violent and ungovernable 
temper of the inhabitants; after that he obliged 
the principal men of those isles to come and swear 
allegiance to him ; those who had continued in 
their duty had liberty to return home, only they 
were to pay yearly some small taxes to the king ; 
those who had been rebels, were either forced to 
give hostages for their good behaviour for the fu- 
ture, or to follow his majesty, who sent some of 
them to the castle of Edinburgh, and the rest to 
Dunbarton, which John Stuart, lord d'Aubigny, 
had delivered to him a little time before by order 
of the king of France ; for till then it was garri- 
soned by Frenchmen. 

This voyage being happily concluded, when 
the king was come to Edinburgh, he received 
letters from his ambassadors, in which they ac- 
quaint him with the kind reception they had re- 
ceived at the court of France ; for the French 
king told them, that he should be glad of the ho- 



OF KING JAMES V. 125 

nour of that alliance, but only was sorry that his 
eldest daughter was sickly, his other daughters 
were too young, and at present there were none 
of his relations that were worthy of that honour, 
except the lady Mary of Vendosme, an admira- 
ble and charming princess of the blood royal. 
They said, they could not give any answer to 
that proposal, because they were limited by their 
instructions. This account of affairs made the 
king very melancholy ; sometimes he doubted lest 
some selfish views in the earl of Murray, and the 
bishop of Aberdeen, might incline them to em- 
barrass that match ; at another time, the confi- 
dence he had in John Erskine, and Robert Heists, 
made him easy ; because he was sure they would 
not betray the trust reposed in them, but would 
use all possible application towards the accom- 
plishing the desired match: notwithstanding, to 
prevent delays, and considering that the great 
reason why the matches of most princes are so un- 
happy, is, because they never see their queens be- 
fore marriage, he determined to go over to France, 
and to court in person : but the great heats at 
that time obliged him to defer his voyage till they 
were a little abated. 

In the mean time, he observed that the opinion 
of Luther increased extremely in Scotland, and 
believed it was his duty utterly to extirpate the 
protestant religion, lest if he delayed that necessa- 
ry work, as he supposed, it might in the end sup- 
plant and banish popery, which he accounted the 
foundation of his authority ; some took the free- 
dom to tell him, « that heresy was a scourge sent 



126 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

from heaven upon the souls of men for the punish- 
ment of their sins, and that all persecution was in 
vain, seeing the distemper was within the soul, 
which could not be reached by any human means ; 
for it belonged only to God to move and convert 
the mind : so that methods of arguments, and 
gentleness, were more likely to gain upon the 
spirits of men, than those of persecution, rage and 
fury, seeing error was the effect of human frailty ; 
that after he had used rational means of conviction, 
he ought to wait for the blessing of God upon 
such laudable endeavours : so that the least he 
could do in that case was to grant a toleration to 
the protestants." Others on the contrary spake 
thus to the king : H that it was impious to suffer 
a plurality of religions, which was contrary to the 
unity of the divine nature ; that God would be 
worshipped with one heart, and after the same uni- 
form manner ; the tranquillity and peace of king- 
doms could not be firmly established, where the 
true way of worshipping God was not fixed and 
determined, without any toleration granted to 
heretics ; otherwise the persons of kings would be 
in perpetual danger : for when the quarrel of re- 
ligion has divided your subjects into factions, and 
enraged them against each other, bigotry shall so 
prevail upon them, that they shall be regardless 
even of death itself, every day your sacred person 
shall be in danger from some desperate devotee, 
who shall think it his duty to be your sworn ene- 
my, because you are not of his belief. What is 
more frequent than murder and assassinations 
where different sects prevail ? For each is per- 



OF KING JAMES V. 127 

suaded that the truth is only to be found with 
their party, they think that the cause of religion 
will bear them out, in killing those whom they ac- 
count blasphemers of God : but on the contrary, 
where the same religion is unanimously professed, 
the subjects are more governable and peaceable, 
and more observing and obedient to the* laws of 
their sovereigns. Nothing can so effectually unite 
the affections of your subjects, or so forcibly dis- 
pose them to a continuance in their duty to your 
majesty, and prevent rebellion, than an uniformity 
in worship and doctrine ; this should oblige you 
to defend the catholic religion, seeing the crown 
and it have inseparably been conveyed to you from 
your ancestors: and if kings will not allow that 
any should share in their dignities but themselves, 
neither is it tolerable that the service and worship 
of God should be prophaned and deserted. In 
fine, though it is reasonable to make serious ad- 
dresses to heaven, that God may be pleased to 
root out heresy out of the hearts of men ; yet 
whilst we wait for that blessing from above, it is 
necessary, in the mean time, to make use of the 
secular arm to chastise the ringleaders of heresy, 
that the fear of punishment may preserve the 
minds of your people from the infection of error." 
Those reasons prevailed upon the king, upon 
which he published severe and rigorous laws 
against all protestants within his dominions, and 
established a court of inquisition, the judges where- 
of were to make strict search for all those that 
professed the new religion ; many were discovered, 
who were cruelly put to death, the king hoping 



128 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

that those severe measures would certainly extir- 
pate the protestant religion. 

During those cruelties, Henry VIII. who had 
renounced all obedience to the pope, and had em- 
braced the doctrines of Luther, sent the bishop 
of St. Davids to his nephew king James, with 
books printed in England, which contained an 
accouut of the principles of the religion then esta- 
blished there. He hoped that by the reading of 
them king James would be persuaded to disown 
the pope's authority. In his letters he earnestly 
intreated his nephew to read those books carefully 
without prejudice, which he refused to do, till he 
had first got them to be examined by learned and 
religious men, who upon perusing them, reported 
that they contained nothing but lies and impos- 
tures, and heartily thanked God that his majesty 
had escaped that snare which his uncle had laid 
for him, and that he would not pollute his eyes 
with the reading such dangerous books. 

At this time robberies were so frequent upon 
the highways, that all business and trade was at a 
stand ; this w&s owing to the negligence of the 
sheriffs, who suffered robbers and thieves to es- 
cape unpunished. To put an end to those disor- 
ders, the king established a justiciary court at 
Jedburgh. 

The king now being uneasy with impatience, 
because his ambassadors were not like to conclude 
the marriage with that despatch he wished for, 
notwithstanding the inconveniencies of the season, 
resolved to sail for France, and having given or- 
ders that a fleet should be ready, he went a-board 



OF KING JAMES V. 129 

at Leith, together with the great ministers of his 
court, without owning whither he was bound; 
many thought he designed to go into England to 
visit his uncle, and now repented, that the former 
year he refused an interview with that king; 
they were scarcely got out of the haven, when a 
storm began to rise, and the wind turned contra- 
ry : upon this the pilot asked the king which way 
they should steer their course ? he answered, 
« whither you please except to England." This 
convinced them all that the king designed for 
France, which was impracticable at that time, be- 
cause of the contrary winds ; which, when the king 
understood, he chose rather to sail round the coasts 
of his kingdom, and try if they could have better 
passage by St. George's channel, than to put in 
again at Leith ; neither did that succeed, for still 
the storm increased, which made those who at- 
tended him bethink that it was safest to return 
home, and not expose their king's and their own 
life to visible danger ; and that it was fool-hardiness 
to struggle with the unrelenting winds and waves ; 
that there was no need for such haste, and that 
they might lie in some harbour till the storm was 
over, without any prejudice to the king's affairs : 
so whilst the king was asleep they tacked about, 
and sailed for the coasts of Scotland: when the 
king awakened he was in a great rage, and never 
pardoned those who advised the sailing back to 
Scotland ; he blamed Sir James Hamilton chiefly 
for this, whom he hated before, because he killed 
the earl of Lennox. Sir James' enemies, to in- 
flame the king the more against him, suggested, 

M 



130 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

that he was very far from being a dutiful subject ; 
that all his pretences of loyalty were only hypo- 
crisy ; for his only design in accompanying his 
majesty was to defeat the design of the voyage. 

When the bad weather was over, the nobility 
who were with the king, in complaisance to his 
majesty, desired him to think of sailing with the 
first fair wind, which he did, and setting sail from 

Scotland on the first day of September, , he 

landed at Dieppe ten days after, and went incog- 
nito to Vendosme, to see the lady Mary of Ven- 
dosme, where he was satisfied that she was an ex- 
cellent and well accomplished princess, and that 
fame had not been too favourable to her ; but see- 
ing he had had the choice of three princesses, al 
daughters of kings, he thought he could not in 
honour marry one of a lower degree ; so he left 
Vendosme, and had still the disposing of his own 
heart, notwithstanding the charms of that fair lady, 
and went straight for Paris to meet with the French 
king, whose coming was a surprisal to the court. 
The king, who knew nothing of it till about two 
hours before he saw him, immediately went to 
meet him and welcome him to Paris, being accom- 
panied with all the nobility then at court, and re- 
ceived him with all that grandeur and honour that 
king James could desire. He had not been long 
at Paris before the lady Magdalen owned that she 
loved him : he desired the king her father to agree 
to the match, and said, he hoped that the change 
of air, and more years, would confirm her in per- 
fect health, and doubted not but he should have 
children by her. The French king consented to 



OF KING JAMES V. 131 

the match, and told him, there was nothing that 
he could deny the king of Scotland : so the mar- 
riage was solemnized with all the pomp and cere- 
mony imaginable. 

Some days after, the present posture of affairs 
obliged the two kings to take leave of each other ; 
at parting they gave all possible assurances of mu- 
tual and perpetual affection and friendship, for at 
that time the Imperialists ravaged Piedmont and 
Picardy, and king James was afraid lest Henry 
VIII. might embroil his affairs in his absence: 
so king James and his queen set out for Scotland, 
having with them a great number of French ships. 
When they arrived in Scotland, they were received 
with the universal joy of their subjects, but as m 
human life our gladness is still allayed with sor- 
row, so this joy was short lived, and was inter- 
rupted by the great grief occasioned by the death 
of the young queen, who lived only six months 
after her landing in Scotland ; for the sea air, and 
the fatigue of the voyage, had occasioned her sick- 
ness. There was such an universal and real grief 
over all the kingdom, upon the news of her death, 
that to testify the sense the court, and other per- 
sons of note, had of the great loss, they went into 
mourning, which was the first time that ever that 
custom was used in Scotland. 

After the funeral ceremonies were over, king 
James was more desirous than ever of children, 
and was unwilling to live any time a widower; he 
cast his eyes upon the lady Mary of Lorrain, 
sister to Francis duke of Guise, a famed general, 
and the widow of the duke of Longueville ; for 



132 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

the charming virtues of that lady had made a. 
mighty impression upon his heart during his stay 
in France. 

Whilst the ambassadors were a-going to France 
to desire the lady Mary of Lorrain in marriage 
for the king, he was alarmed with many false ac- 
cusations of innocent persons, as if guilty of plots 
against his life ; the first remarkable person who 
suffered by the villany of those informers was one 
John Forbes, a young gentleman of great courage, 
and of a good family, but had always lived a vi- 
cious and scandalous life, which made people be- 
lieve the more easily, that one of his character 
would stick at no crime : he had been managed 
of a long time by one Strachan, a wicked fellow 
of a mean birth, who was a sharer in all his de- 
baucheries. Forbes found by experience, how dan- 
gerous the society of villains is. This Strachan, 
besides his other vices, was a covetous wretch, he 
demanded from Mr. Forbes some gift which he 
could not conveniently grant ; upon which refusal, 
Strachan was so displeased that he meditated re- 
venge, became his enemy, and to compass his ma- 
licious designs more effectually, he went to the 
earl of Huntly, Mr. Forbes' mortal enemy, where 
they jointly contrived his ruin. They accused Mr. 
Forbes that of a long time he had a design to 
murder the king ; they hired knights of the post, 
who were evidences against him, who swore, that 
then he waited only for a fit opportunity to assas- 
sinate his majesty. Though those witnesses were 
men of bad characters, and their evidence did not 
prove the impeachment, nevertheless he was found 



OP KING JAMES Y. 133 

guilty, and condemned to death ; for the judges 
thought that the very intention to kill the king 
deserved it. But God permitted him to come to 
that untimely end, as a punishment for his former 
sins ; " for though iniquities are not immediately 
chastised, yet at length men's sins find them out, 
and when they are most secure, and least expect 
the wrath of heaven, they fall into snares which 
complete their ruin." 

The judges found Strachan guilty of misprision 
of treason, because he had so long concealed such 
a horrid crime, which they thought he would not 
have done if he had not been equally guilty in the 
plot ; but though he deserved death more than 
Mr. Forbes, yet all his punishment was only ban- 
ishment : he retired to Paris, where he followed 
still the same dissolute debauched way of living. 
King James, for reasons best known to himself, 
was sorry for Mr. Forbes** death when it was too 
late, because he thought he might be useful in 
some secret services ; for bad men are as necessary 
in the body-politic, as bad humours are in the 
body-natural : to testify his concern, he made his 
second brother a gentleman of his bedchamber, 
and married the third to a great fortune, and gave 
him back his brother's estate which was forfeited. 

This punishment was immediately followed by 
another very lamentable one, if we either consider 
the quality of the persons accused, or the nature 
of their pretended crimes ; but most of all deplora- 
ble for the too great severity of the punishment. 

Jean Douglas, the sister of Archibald earl of 
Angus, who then lived an exile in England, was 

3 



134 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

the most renowned beauty of Britain, at that time ; 
she was of an ordinary stature, not too fat, her mien 
was majestic, her eyes full, her face was oval, and 
her complexion was delicate and extremely fair. 
Besides all these perfections, she was a lady of a 
singular chastity ; as her body was a finished piece, 
without the least blemish, so heaven designed that 
her mind should want none of those perfections a 
mortal creature can be capable of; her modesty 
was admirable, her courage was above what could 
be expected from her sex, her judgment solid, her 
carriage was gaining and affable to her inferiors, 
as she knew well how to behave herself to her 
equals : she was descended from one of the most 
honourable and wealthiest families of Scotland, 
and of great interest in the kingdom, but at that 
time eclisped ; she was married to John Lion, lord 
Glammes, a discreet and valiant nobleman, who 
died in the bloom of his youth, and left a son be- 
hind him by their marriage : she continued a widow 
some years after. During which time, several of 
the best families of the kingdom courted her ; but 
a gentleman named Archibald Campbell, had the 
honour and happiness to gain her love, he had a 
good estate, and was of a good family, and com- 
manded the third squadron of king James'' army. 
Now this gentleman, who equally admired her 
beauty and virtue, made his addresses to her with 
all possible respect, at length she owned she loved 
him, so they were married to both their satisfac- 
tions. 

William Lion, a near relation of her first hus- 
band, and one of her former suitors, not being 



OF KING JAMES V. 135 

able to stifle his former flame, nor dissemble his 
rage and discontent for the loss of her, became al- 
most frantic upon this disappointment ; and though 
he was so unhappy as to lose her, yet he did not 
forbear his addresses, hoping still, that in recom- 
pense of his painful attendance, she would grant 
him some favours. 

This beautiful lady repulsed him with disdain, 
and told him, that the reason why she formerly 
treated him with civility, was more owing to his 
relation to her last husband, and to her son, than 
to any regard to himself; but now, seeing he had 
designs upon her honour, she hated the sight of 
him; for he might be assured that she would 
never comply with his criminal and brutal desires. 

This resolute and virtuous refusal distracted 
him, and not knowing what to answer, sometimes 
he complained of her severe virtue ; at another 
time he told her, the great love he had for her 
was the occasion of his addresses : he blamed her 
also for her ingratitude, as if, in complaisance to 
him, she ought to throw away all regards to chas- 
tity ; in fine, he told he had lost all his time and 
endeavours. This interview was spent in com- 
plaints, intreaties, reproaches, and threatenings ; 
after which he departed and never visited her more. 
From that time his love, or rather lust, was 
changed into rage and revenge ; his thoughts were 
divided, whither he should kill her himself, or 
contrive some plot against her life ; the first 
seemed unworthy of his courage, whereas the lat- 
ter required very nice conduct, and too long a de- 
lay, seeing he was enraged to that degree, that he 



136 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

thirsted for present revenge ; but at last the latter 
carried it. 

So the passion of love being succeeded by that 
of vengeance, he was brooding over his resentment 
for some months, at last he lights upon one of 
the blackest contrivances that hell could suggest, 
viz* he accused this lady, her son, her husband, 
and one John Lion, an aged priest, and his own 
near relation, as guilty of a design to poison the 
king. This was the most unlikely thing in the 
world, if we consider the characters and conversa- 
tion of the persons accused, who lived for the 
most part in the country at a great distance from 
court, and seldom had an occasion of seeing the 
king ; however, upon this, those innocent persons 
were apprehended and imprisoned in the castle of 
Edinburgh, and their goods were seized, with a 
strict charge to the judges of the justice-court to 
proceed to their trials. 

William Lion, the accuser, who had the ear of 
the jealous king, used all his rhetoric to aggravate 
the matter, and that he might dispose the king to 
treat them with all possible cruelty, he represented, 
« c that the family of Douglas had always been dan- 
gerous and troublesome to his predecessors, and 
even to himself and his kingdom ; and reminded 
him of the insolent behaviour of Archibald Dou- 
glas, earl of Angus, the brother of the prisoner, 
in the time of his majesty's minority, whose prac- 
tices were so pernicious, that by a public decree 
he was banished the kingdom as a disturber of 
the peace of his native country ; that since that 
time he was become the subject of Henry king of 



OF KING JAMES V. 



137 



England, his majesty's enemy, and was now the in- 
cendiary betwixt the two kingdoms, and advised all 
the inroads that were made from England upon 
Scotland ; and that, seeing he could not be restored 
to his honours and fortune, without great difficulty, 
revenge incited him to plot all the mischief possi- 
ble against the king's person ; and who could he 
employ for compassing such wicked designs more 
fit than his own sister, who was obliged to secrecy 
by the ties of blood ? That he engaged her in 
that conspiracy, thinking that her sex, character, 
and birth, would make her the less suspected : 
therefore, if his majesty had any regard either to 
his interest or safety, it was necessary to exter- 
minate that race which produced nothing but 
monsters of rebellion, and especially that woman, 
whom if he spared, he would put it in her power 
to accomplish her wicked designs." 

This discourse found too easy a belief with the 
king, who was naturally jealous and suspicious, 
and was wholly ignorant of the hatred which Wil- 
liam Lion bore to that lady ; upon which he or- 
dered that they should be put upon their trial 
in all haste, so that small regard was had either to 
their characters, birth, or defences they made. 
Before the judges gave sentence, this lady was 
brought to the bar according to custom, that they 
might hear what she could say for herself : she 
knew well enough that her misfortunes proceeded 
from her near relation to the earl of Angus. When 
she had answered to all the the questions which 
the judges asked, with the greatest courage and 



138 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

boldness imaginable,' she delivered the following 
speech : 

" Those who hate the merit of my brother are 
enraged because he is not in their power, that he 
might fall a sacrifice to their malice, and they now 
discharge their spite upon me, because of my near 
relation to him ; and to gratify their revenge »vith 
my blood, they accuse me of crimes which, if true, 
deserve the severest death. But seeing it is the 
only prerogative of God to punish men or women 
for the faults of others, which belongs to no judge 
on earth, who are obliged to punish every one ac- 
cording to their personal crimes, you ought not to 
punish in me the actions of my brother, how blame- 
able soever ; above all, you ought to consider if 
those things I am accused of have the least appear- 
ance of truth imaginable ; for what gives the 
greatest evidence either of the guilt or innocence 
of an impeached person, is their former life. What 
fault could any hitherto lay to my charge ? Did 
any ever reproach me with any thing that is scan- 
dalous ? Examine, I intreat you, my former con- 
versation, vice hath its degrees as well as virtue, 
and none can attain to a perfection in either, ex- 
cept by long use and practice ; and if you can find 
nothing reprovable in my conduct, how can ye 
believe that I am arrived all of a sudden to contrive 
this murder, which is the very height and perfec- 
tion of impiety? I protest I would not deliberately 
injure the most despicable wretch alive ; could I 
then make the murder of my sovereign, whom I 
always reverenced, and who never did me any 
wrong, the first essay of my wickedness ? None 



OP KING JAMES V. 139 

are capable of such damnable and unnatural ac- 
tions, except two sorts of persons, viz. those of des- 
perate fortunes who are weary of their lives, or 
those who are hurried into them by revenge ; my 
birth, and manner of life, puts me beyond the sus- 
picion of the first kind ; and for the latter, seeing 
I was never injured by the king, how can I be 
suspected to thirst for any revenge ? I am here 
accused for purposing to kill the king, and to 
make my pretended crime appear more frightful, 
it is given out, that the way was to be by poison. 
With what impudence can any accuse me of such 
wickedness, who never saw any poison, nor know 
I any thing about the preparation of it ? can any 
say they ever saw me have any of it ? let them 
tell me where I bought it ; or who procured it 
me. And though I had it, how could I use it, 
seeing I never came near the king^s person, his 
table nor palace ? It is well known, that since 
my last marriage with this unfortunate gentleman, 
I have lived in the country, at a great distance 
from the court ; what opportunity could I ever 
have then to poison the king ? You may see by 
those circumstances, which give great light in such 
matters, that I am intirely innocent of those crimes 
I am charged with : it is the office of you judges 
to protect injured innocence ; but if the malice and 
power of my enemies be such, that whether inno- 
cent or guilty I must needs be condemned, I shall 
die cheerfully, having the testimony of a good con- 
science ; and assure yourselves that you shall cer- 
tainly find it more easy to take away my life, than 
to blast my reputation, or to fix any real blot upon 



140 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

my memory. This is my last desire of you, that 
I may be the sole object of your severity, and that 
those other innocent persons may not share in my 
misfortunes. Seeing my chief crime is, that I am 
descended of the family of Douglas, there is no 
reason that they should be involved in my ruin ; 
for my husband, son, and cousin, are neither of 
that name, nor family. I shall end my life with 
more comfort if you absolve them, for the more of 
us that suffer by your unjust sentence, the greater 
will be your guilt, and the more terrible your con- 
demnation when you shall be tried at the great 
day by God, who is the impartial judge of all flesh, 
who shall then make you suffer for those torments 
to which we are unjustly condemned." 

This admirable speech, which was spoken with 
such boldness and manly courage, astonished the 
judges extremely, and when^ they had reasoned 
upon what she had alledged in her own defence, 
they determined, before they gave sentence, to 
send two of their number to the king, and to re- 
present to him, that though the witnesses had 
proved the articles of impeachment, and that, ac- 
cording to the law of the land, upon this evidence 
she deserved death, yet, upon a serious considera- 
tion of the whole circumstances of the matter, they 
could not perceive the least probability of her 
guilt : they were afraid lest the rigour of the law 
in this case should prove the height of injustice, 
therefore they wished rather that equity and mercy 
should take place, it being more safe to absolve a 
criminal, than to condemn an innocent person ; 
that time alone could discover the truth of the 



OF KING JAMES V. 141 

matter, by making known the character of those 
witnesses who had sworn against her, whether they 
were men of honesty, or had been bribed to accuse 
her ; that nothing was so adviseable as to delay 
the whole affair for some days, which could be no 
danger to the king, seeing those persons were not 
to have their liberty ; but whenever they could 
perceive any presumptions of their guilt, they 
should not escape justice : as for themselves they 
were tied up to the formalities and letter of the 
law, it belonged only to his majesty to temper and 
moderate the severity of it by his clemency, upon 
which account they addressed themselves to him, 
seeing in such cases wherein the life, honour, and 
estates of persons of distinction are concerned, all 
possible caution is necessary. 

The king, who was naturally merciful en6ugh, 
bad yielded to this reasonable request, if Lion, 
who had contrived that hellish plot, and was 
afraid, if they had escaped, his wickedness would 
be discovered, had not prevailed with the king to 
give this answer to the judges : * that the exercise , 
of justice was a considerable part of the royal dig- 
nity, which he had entrusted them with when he 
made them judges ; that it belonged to their office 
to preserve the innocent, and punish the guilty ; 
that the book called Regiam Majestatem, con- 
tained all the forms and rules which ought to de- 
termine them in such cases ; wherefore he gave 
them full power to proceed in that business accord- 
ing to justice, and the laws of the land ; and said, 
he knew of nothing that could hinder them from 
doing their duty like men of honour." 

N 



142 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

Upon receiving that answer, those that were sent 
to wait upon the king, returned to the exchequer, 
where the court of justice then sat, and reported 
to the rest of the judges, what the king had given 
them in charge ; upon which the judges gave sen- 
tence against that lady, which was, that she was 
to be led out to the place of execution, and there 
to be burnt alive till she was dead. A little time 
after the sentence, she was delivered into the 
hands of the executioner, to be led out to suffer ; 
the constancy and courage of this heroine is al- 
most incredible, which astonished all the specta- 
tors : she heard the sentence pronounced against 
her without the least sign of concern, neither did 
she cry, groan, or shed a tear, though that kind 
of death is most frightful to human nature. When 
she was brought out to suffer, the people who 
looked on could not conceal their grief and com- 
passion ; some of them who were acquainted with 
her, and knew her innocence, designed to rescue 
her ; but the presence of the king and his ministers 
restrained them : she seemed to be the only uncon- 
cerned person there, and her beauty and charms 
never appeared with greater advantage than when 
she was led to the flames, and her soul being for- 
tified with support from heaven, and the sense of 
her own innocence, she outbraved death, and her 
courage was equal in the fire, to what it was be- 
fore her judges ; she suffered those torments with- 
out the least noise, only she prayed devoutly for 
divine assistance to support her under her suffer- 
ings : thus died this famous lady with a courage 



OF KING JAMES V. 143 

not inferior to that of any of the heroes of anti- 
quity. 

The d&y following her disconsolate husband, de- 
signing to make his escape from the castle of Edin- 
burgh, was let down over the walls by a cord, 
which happening to be too short, he fell upon the 
rocks, where he was dashed to pieces. The king 
was very sad upon hearing of that lamentable ac- 
cident, and immediately ordered that Lion, the 
old priest, should have his liberty, because his 
great age made him incapable of any such design ; 
as for the young lord Glamis, though his child- 
hood was sufficient proof of his innocency, yet he 
was kept still in prison, from whence he was not 
released till after the king's death. 

Those who make any reflections upon the tragi- 
cal history of this unfortunate lady may observe, 
that great beauty frequently exposes women to 
danger, and often proves a snare and curse, ra- 
ther than a blessing ; seeing most men who be- 
hold them become passionate admirers of them, 
whereas it is only in such virtuous lady's power to 
make one man happy ; the other less fortunate 
rivals, missing that bliss they impatiently longed 
for, sometimes their disappointed love degenerates 
into revenge and fury, which proves the cause of 
great misfortunes to those beautiful females. 

William Lion, after this virtuous and incom- 
parable lady had fallen a victim to his fury, when- 
ever he began to think cooly upon the wickedness 
he had done, was so filled with horror, that he was 
not able to endure the lashes of his awakened con- 
science ; he lamented when it was too late, that 

2 



144 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

his malice had occasioned the loss both of the lives 
and fortunes of those who were his near relations ; 
so that having confidence in the king's m6rcy, he 
confessed the whole matter secretly to him. The 
king abhorring such frightful wickedness, banished 
him from the court, and designed his punishment 
should be answerable to his guilt ; but affairs of 
greater concern which happened immediately after, 
made the king forget that matter. 

At length the king heard from his ambassadors 
cardinal Beaton and Robert Maxwell, then at 
the court of France, that his marriage was conclu- 
ded, very much to the satisfaction of the French 
king, and all his court, and that they designed to 
set out in a little time from France, and to bring 
with them the lady Mary of Guise ; from that 
time he thought of nothing but of his amours, and 
of making preparations for his queen's honourable 
reception. 

Monsieur D'Annebault, admiral of France, was 
ordered to wait upon her from the court to Dieppe, 
with a great number of the nobility of the best 
quality in the kingdom, where she went aboard 
about the beginning of June, 1538. A great 
number of French ships conducted her to Balcomy 
in Scotland, where the earl of Murray and other 
Scotch noblemen were sent to wait upon her ; af- 
ter she had stayed there some days, and had taken 
leave of the French noblemen who attended her, 
she was brought to St. Andrews in great state, 
where the marriage was solemnized with all possi- 
ble rejoicing. 

The great merit of the new queen was so re- 



OF KING JAMES V. HS 

Remarkable, that she was admired and loved by 
all her subjects ; her prudence, and love to the 
king, gained his heart intirely, and to complete 
his happiness, she brought forth a son the first 
year of" their marriage, at St. Andrews ; and the 
next year she had another son at Stirling, upon 
which the king admired her to that degree, that he 
advised with her in all affairs of state : she was a 
lady of great wit, and was reputed a princess not 
inferior to any at that time, either for beauty, 
courage, or prudence. 

Hitherto all things went well with king James, 
who was arrived to that height of prosperity, that 
he had nothing to wish for ; having children by 
his marriage, was loved by his subjects, and feared 
by his enemies : but frequently adversity is nearer 
prosperity than we expect, thus it was with this 
king, for all of a sudden he experienced the re- 
verse of fate, and was immediately attacked with 
so many and various troubles, that whenever he 
thought to disengage himself from any of them, 
he was overpowered with new ones which defeated 
all his endeavours. 

The first mortification he met with, proceeded 
from his bad conduct, which lost him the affec- 
tions of his subjects ; for when he saw he had two 
sons, and that there was no fear he should want 
heirs to succeed him in the throne, he began to un- 
dervalue his nobiiity, and upbraided them with 
want of courage, and that they had degenerated 
from the valour and military bravery of their an- 
cestors : he reminded them of the dishonourable de- 
feat at Floddon, where they gave small proof of 

3 



146 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

their regard to the king his father, or concern for 
the honour of their country : he told them, if they 
were willing, he had inclination to revenge his fa- 
ther's death upon Henry VIII. and to retrieve the 
ancient reputation of the kingdom. He found them 
not very forward to engage in any such matters ; 
for those reproaches had so much alienated their af- 
fections from him, and enraged them, that they de- 
serted his service, when he had most need of their 
help : for of all things, what can more highly pro- 
voke haughty spirits than disdain ? 

The kingdom was then at peace, the Protestants, 
who were at that time a very numerous body, and 
increased daily, were so displeased with what they 
suffered upon the account of their religion, that 
they had certainly taken up arms to get their griev- 
ances redressed, if they had had any nobleman of 
note to head them. The king knew that well 
enough, but his affairs were then so embroiled, that 
he was obliged to dissemble his displeasure at them, 
and waited till he had extricated himself from his 
present difficulties, as a more fit season to mortify 
them ; his treasury was then very much exhausted 
because of his extraordinary expense, by his mar- 
riages, and his many new buildings, so that he 
wanted money extremely ; the most ready way was, 
either to lay a tax upon the clergy, or upon the no- 
bility ; both of them desired to be excused from 
that hardship, and enlarged upon their own pover- 
ty, and the riches of the other estate. 

Now Henry VIII. who had not forgotten that 
he had been affronted by king James, who refused 
to marry his daughter, and to have an interview 



OF KING JAMES V. 147 

with him, was determined to try if he could by 
subtiltv persuade him to meet him in England, 
otherwise, upon refusal, he should have a specious 
colour for beginning a war : he sent his ambassador 
to king James, to desire him to come to York, 
where he would meet him, and that they might 
confer friendly together about affairs that related 
to the peace of both their kingdoms, and conclude 
a lasting peace; for what could be more for 
both their glory, than to put a period to the 
ancient hatred and animosity betwixt their two 
kingdoms, which had occasioned the effusion of so 
much christian blood ? that instead of those na- 
tional and hereditary quarrels, a firm and sincere 
friendship might be established betwixt the two 
crowns. 

Many of the peers of the kingdom, and who 
had great interest with the king, were protestants, 
and used all possible arguments to persuade him 
to go and see his uncle, who, they assured him, 
had then all the inclination imaginable to receive 
him with the utmost demonstration of love and 
friendship ; there was not the least cause of fear 
that his person would be in any danger, for they 
had all the reason in the world to believe that 
that interview would procure a well-grounded 
peace betwixt the two kings and their subjects. 
But what above all things made them long for 
that meeting was, that they knew that Henry VIII. 
was a prince of a very moving eloquence, so they 
hoped their king would be gained upon to choose 
the king of England for his ally, rather than any 
other prince, and hoped be might be induced by 



H8 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

his uncle to make a change of religion in his king- 
dom, as he had began to do in his. 

But upon the other hand the clergy foreseeing 
how much that interview threatened the downfall 
of their authority, employed the utmost of their 
skill to defeat it ; for they told the king, they 
were assured that a toleration to the protestants 
would be the least effect of it. To dissuade the 
king they used all the arguments which they had 
employed upon a like occasion, " that his majesty 
was not to trust to safeconducts, seeing Malcolm, 
and William his brother, both kings of Scotland, 
by trusting to such securities, had lost their liberty, 
and were made prisoners by Henry II. of England, 
and carried to Guyenne, where the English were 
at war with France, that he might oblige them to 
renounce the old alliance with that kingdom. The 
misfortunes of his predecessor king James I, might 
teach him caution and wisdom in such affairs ; and 
if his uncle had broke his engagements to heaven, 
and was an apostate from the truth, what human 
tie could bind him ? Those considerations might 
prevail with his majesty to avoid the snares of his 
enemy : but if his uncle should be so enraged 
with this refusal that it should be the occasion of 
a war with England, they promised him as much 
money as should be necessary to defray the 
charges of it ; besides, they promised to pay him 
yearly thirty thousand crowns, and if at any time 
his affairs required more money, than they would 
willingly contribute as far as their revenues would 
go for his assistance : provided his majesty would 
allow the laws to be put in execution against those 



OF KING JAMES V. 149 

who had scandalously renounced all obedience to 
the Holy See, and despised its ordinances, and 
now avowedly professed Lutheranism : they de- 
sired his majesty, as the only way to stop the 
course of that growing mischief, he would allow 
them to seize the goods and estates of those who 
should for the future be convicted of that heresy, 
which they thought would amount to a yearly rent 
of a hundred thousand crowns, which they said 
might be annexed to the king's revenue; so they 
hoped his majesty would appoint such judges as 
were men of courage and resolution, and would go 
through-stitch with such a godly work." 

The king was so sensibly touched with this ad- 
dress from the clergy, that he laid aside all 
thoughts of an interview with his uncle the king 
of England, not so much upon the account of the 
money they offered him, as to please the queen, 
who declared, that she was averse to that journey, 
because the danger of it overbalanced any pros- 
pect they could have of advantage ; she knew that 
the king did not love his uncle, neither could he 
disguise his aversion, so feared that his open and 
frank temper would widen the breach betwixt 
them. 

He made Sir James Hamilton, bastard brother 
of the earl of Arran, judge of this court of inqui- 
sition which was to be erected. This choice mighti- 
ly pleased the churchmen, because he was a declar- 
ed enemy to the protestants, and his interests were 
inseparable from those of the clergy. This com- 
mission proved his ruin ; for the protestants per- 
ceiving how dangerous an enemy he should prove, 



150 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

for that now his malice was armed with power ; 
they laid a trap for him which he could not es- 
cape : James Hamilton, brother of Mr. Patrick 
Hamilton who suffered for the protestant religion, 
after he had been a long time sheriff of Lithgow, 
was obliged to flee from Scotland, because he was 
of his brother's religion ; when he had been a con- 
siderable time abroad, he got liberty from the 
king to return for some time to settle his affairs : 
notwithstanding which, he could not think he was 
safe whilst Sir James Hamilton was president of 
that new inquisition, who, though his near relation, 
was his mortal enemy, because when he was sheriff, 
he had given a cause against him ; he knew that 
Sir James never forgave what he believed was an 
injury, and would now colour his revenge against 
his enemies, by the all-atoning name of zeal for 
the catholic faith. And now, seeing an aftergame 
was dangerous, this gentleman designed to be be- 
forehand with him, upon this he sent his son to 
the king, who was then in Fifeshire, to warn him, 
that now there was great necessity for his majesty 
to take care of his person, for Sir James Hamilton 
corresponded secretly with the earl of Angus, and 
that he only waited for a convenient time to put 
his wicked designs in execution ; for whenever he 
could nick the time when his majesty was alone, 
or had few attendants, then he would enter his 
chamber and assassinate him. The king, who 
never was regardless of any thing that was propo- 
sed for the safety of his life, dispatched that young 
gentleman to Edinburgh, and gave him his ring, 
which was well known to his ministers as a token 



OF KING JAMES V. 151 

of the truth of the message ; he told them the 
king ordered James Lermont, his master of the 
household, James Kirkcaldy, the treasurer, and 
Thomas Erskine, master of requests, to meet in 
the exchequer ; that the young gentleman, the 
bearer, would acquaint them with the treasonable 
designs of Sir James Hamilton, which they were 
speedily to prevent. 

Those judges, who could not dispence with 
their obedience to the king's positive commands, 
went immediately to Sir James' house, where they 
arrested him, and committed him to prison in the 
castle of Edinburgh, and in the mean time drew 
up the articles of impeachment against him. The 
churchmen were persuaded that this accusation 
was a contrivance of the protestants, to ruin the 
inquisition, which began then to be hard upon 
them ; upon which account they undertook the 
defence of the prisoner, went to the king, and 
most earnestly desired him to give no credit to 
those calumnies Sir James was charged with, who 
had always been a very faithful and obedient sub- 
ject to his majesty. They most humbly begged 
that he might be enlarged, and sent back to the 
exercise of his office. Lermont and Kirkcaldy, 
being apprised how eagerly the clergy defended 
the prisoner's cause, were mightily troubled ; on 
the one hand they knew that the king was na- 
turally inclined to mercy, and was too much di- 
rected by the counsels of churchmen ; on the 
other hand, they knew if Sir James regained his 
liberty, he would never forgive the affront tney 
had done him ; for he was a man of great interest, 



152 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

factious, and revengeful, and their known love to 
the protestant religion, would give him the best 
handle imaginable to work their ruin. 

To provide for their safety, they went to the 
king, and enlarged not so much upon the prisoner's 
guilt, or the circumstances of it, as upon his dan- 
gerous and wicked temper, that he was bold, out- 
rageous, and powerful, and would never forget 
the scandal of his imprisonment, but would think 
of nothing but revenge, if he were freed from 
prison before he was tried : those hints determined 
the king to lay aside his journey to Seatoun, and 
to go to Edinburgh. On the day appointed for 
the trial, the king came to the court of justice 
and sat there in person ; the prisoner was brought 
to the bar, and had liberty to make his defence in 
the most full manner he could ; after this the king 
went out of the court, probably to shun any pe- 
titions that might be made for his life, or lest his 
presence might hinder the judges from speaking 
their minds freely, seeing it was a matter that 
concerned the safety of his own person : he or- 
dered the judges to continue the trial till it was 
ended, and told them he gave them all power to 
do justice according to their consciences, and to 
the laws of the kingdom: so upon the proof of 
the articles of impeachment Sir James was found 
guilty, and was condemned to be hanged and 
quartered, and his quarters to be fixed upon the 
gates of the city. Few lamented his death ex- 
cept his relations ; for his actions had procured 
very many enemies, because he stuck at nothing 
to advance his own interest. 



OF KING JAMES V. 153 

From that time there was an intire change in 
the temper and nature of the king, so that all at 
once he became morose and chagrin to that de- 
gree, that he was uneasy both to himself and 
others ; he was displeased with every thing, and 
abandoned himself so much to melancholy, that 
he avoided all recreations : but any scandalous 
discourse that concerned the nobility, was the only 
conversation that pleased him. 

The cause which was assigned for this melan- 
choly of his, was his superstitious observance of 
dreams, which he always explained to be the pre- 
sages of some future dismal event. " It is one of 
the most remarkable misfortunes of mankind, who, 
for unaccountable apprehensions, torment them- 
selves with what is past, are perplexed for what is 
to come, and not satisfied with their present 
troubles, make use of the night, which was de- 
signed for their rest, to increase their misery, and 
to afford them new materials of affliction." 

Amongst all his dreams, none tormented him 
more than this ; he dreamed, the night after the 
execution of Sir James Hamilton, that he entered 
his chamber, and with a sword cut off his two 
arms, and threatened he would return and take 
away the remains of his life ; upon which he dis- 
appeared. The king awakened in a great sur- 
prise, continued thoughtful, and was persuaded 
that that dream which he could not get out of his 
head, was an omen of something very afflicting, 
which was very near at hand ; this he found too 
true, for not long after, he had the sad news that 

O 



154 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

both his sons died the same day, and the same 
hour, the eldest at St. Andrews, and the other at 
Stirling. This was a very great loss, but he bore 
it patiently, because the queen was then with 
child, who dissembled the sense she had of that 
affliction, and endeavoured by all means to comfort 
the king, whom she endeavoured to dissuade from 
having such a regard to dreams, which above all 
things impaired his health ; for that end she em- 
ployed the assistance of two learned divines and 
philosophers who were then at court, if possibly 
by argument they could cure the wounded ima- 
gination of the king, and persuade him that 
dreams are nothing but delusions. When the 
question was stated, whether we ought to give 
any faith to dreams or not, they were not both of 
the same opinion : 

One of them said, " that God by dreams used 
to give men notices of what was to come, and 
though sometimes they appear very obscure and 
unintelligible, yet the event, which is the best 
commentary upon them, discovers their truth ; 
dreams are generally big with mysteries, the un- 
folding of which belongs only to those, to whom 
heaven has imparted that gift; and if any ob- 
ject that they are frequently false, that mis- 
take proceeds from our ignorance of them, and 
frequently because persons who are unacquaint- 
ed with such high secrets, undertake to ex- 
plain them : besides, that God for very wise rea- 
sons reveals himself to mankind during their sleep, 
because then the soul is most free from the noise, 
hurry, and confusion of the senses ; and as that 



OF KING JAMES V. 155 

time is most susceptible of his holy inspirations, 
as the scriptures informs us in the case of Abime- 
lech, Laban, Judas Machabeus, Nebuchadnezar, 
St. John, the three Wise Men, and others who 
were all instructed from above in dreams: like- 
wise those surprising arts which Bezaleel and Aho- 
liab excelled in, were more frequently infused 
into them when asleep, than when they were 
awake." 

The other learned man on the contrary main- 
tained, " that it was only an error of an old date 
that had seduced several great men, to believe 
that dreams contained any heavenly mystery, see- 
ing they were to be accounted for in a natural 
way ; for they had their rise partly from the con- 
stitution of men, and partly from the active nature 
of men's spirits, even in the time of rest, when 
they cannot use the senses and organs of the body, 
which are then fast bound up by sleep : the mind 
is obliged to sport itself in the imagination, where 
there is a medley of ideas relating to different ob- 
jects, by the blending of which together, it creates 
chimeras that never did exist, and are impossible 
ever to be ; and sometimes the soul diverts itself 
in the memory, where are imprinted the ideas of 
things that have struck our senses, or the traces of 
things which we have done, or design to do ; if 
the mind happen then to be in any violent passion, 
the ideas of the imagination are jumbled with 
those of the memory ; the dreams which proceed 
from such a confusion are incapable of any mean- 
ing; so it is profane to attribute them to the holy 
spirit. How foolish is it to imagine that our 

2 



156 THE LIFE AtfD DEATH 

dreams are more capable of infallibility and inter- 
course with heaven, than our thoughts when we 
are awake, which are frequently then engaged in 
deep and rational meditations ? How unworthy 
of God is it to fancy he is the author of dreams, 
and that by them he warns us of things that are 
to come, when of a hundred thousand of them we 
shall scarcely find one that can have any meaning 
at all ; the rest are only chimeras which have no 
signification : this would prove quite otherwise, if 
they were from God, who never does any thing 
in vain ; for all his gifts answer the ends they 
were designed for ; so those inspirations which 
proceed from the omniscience of God, must of 
necessity be intelligible: for God, who is infallible, 
never produces effects contrary to his own perfec- 
tions. How ridiculous is it to imagine, that God, 
who is light, truth, and order, is the author of 
dreams which are full of obscurity, lies, and confu- 
sion ? In vain it is to support that opinion from 
the authority of the holy scriptures, seeing it is 
expressly forbidden in Leviticus to observe dreams ; 
further, a regard to dreams and vain delusions 
has been the occasion of the miscarriage of many 
actions. He owned that great secrets had been 
discovered in the night by revelation, which is the 
peculiar favour of God, but not at all by dreams, 
which have nothing to do with inspiration ; that 
it was an improper way of speaking to call those 
visions in the night which appeared to Abimelech, 
Solomon, and other holy persons, by the name of 
dreams, seeing the former are prophecies full of 
high and holy mysteries : in fine, it was great 



OF KING JAMES V, ]57 

weakness to be moved by dreams, or to give any 
credit to them." 

The king listened to this discourse with great 
attention *, but when he compared his dream with 
the loss of two sons which followed upon it, and 
whom he thought were represented by his two 
arms, nothing could hinder him from believing 
them. 

At this time there was neither certain peace, nor 
open war, betwixt England and Scotland ; for 
Henry VIII. was enraged to see that his nephew 
slighted him, this made him give secret orders to 
his garrisons on the frontiers to make inroads 
upon Scotland ; when king James saw that such 
grievances and injuries were not at all redressed, 
he began to review his troops, because he was as- 
sured that in a little time a war would begin be- 
twixt the two kingdoms : upon which he made the 
earl of Murray, his bastard brother, lieutenant- 
general of his army, and gave all the necessary 
orders for putting a stop to the incursions of the 
enemy. In the mean time, whilst both kings 
were making preparations for war, king James 
desired by fair means to compose the differences 
between his uncle and himself: for that end he 
sent James Lermont to wait upon king Henry 
at Newcastle, to excuse his not coming to York, 
according to his uncle's desire, because then the 
circumstances of his affairs were such, that it was 
not safe for him to leave his kingdom ; that there 
was no reason why the king of England should 
be angry with him upon that account; that it 
was unjust for him to suffer his army, even in the 

3 



158 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

time of peace, to invade his kingdom, and lay his 
subjects under contribution, and besides to treat 
them with all possible cruelty. Mr. Lermont was 
to ask reparation for those wrongs. 

During Mr. Lermont' s absence, the king or- 
dered George Gordon, earl of Huntly, to the 
frontiers with a squadron of light horse, to op- 
pose the English army if they entered Scotland ; 
but he did nothing that was considerable, because 
he was very far inferior to the enemy in number, 
whose forces increased daily. The English, in 
the view of Huntly, marched towards Jedburgh 
to take it by assault, where they expected good 
plunder ; but the earl of Hume, who had raised 
four hundred horse in great haste, opposed their 
march, and disputed every foot of ground with 
them ; and after a bloody fight of three hours, 
Hume's party perceiving Huntly^s troops riding 
up to them, thought they were coming to reinforce 
the English army, upon which they retired in 
good order, with the loss of few of their men, but 
several were taken. All this time Henry VIIL 
amused Lermont with promises that he would 
give full contentment to his nephew till his army 
was ready to march, which he ordered Lermont 
to accompany to Scotland, lest otherwise he might 
give warning to his master, whom he designed to 
surprise before he was prepared to encounter him. 

When the king was informed of the march of 
his enemies, not being then ready to take the field, 
to gain time, he sent John Areskine to York, to 
the duke of Norfolk, who was lieutenant-general 
of king Henry's army, to demand the reasons pf 



OF KING JAMES V. 159 

that invasion ; that if he had done any injustice 
to the king of England he was willing to make re- 
paration, seeing war would be to both their losses. 
The duke detained Areskine till his army came to 
Berwick, and would not suffer him to go to Scot- 
land, though Areskine saw there was no hopes of 
peace, he got no positive answer from the duke : 
the design of this was, that king James, expecting 
peace, might not be in readiness to resist him 
when he entered Scotland. The king being in- 
formed by his scouts, that the English army was 
within fifteen miles of the borders, he encamped 
the body of his army near Falla-church, and or- 
dered the earl of Huntly to march before with 
a thousand men to meet them ; but he did nothing 
that was remarkable. 

Though the Scotch army was outnumbered by 
the English, yet the king sought all occasions to 
bring it to a battle ; but could not persuade his 
nobility to be willing, which highly enraged him, 
and to gain, if possible, upon them, he made the 
following speech : 

" Shall it ever be said that the nobility of Scot- 
land have abandoned the service of their king in 
the sight of the enemy, and when the two armies 
were ready to engage ? Is it possible that you 
who have courted opportunities to show your bra- 
very, that you now shall lose this occasion which 
offers, where you may purchase new laurels ? How 
unlike are you to those brave warriors your pre- 
decessors, whose arms and names you bear, who 
were regardless of their lives when honour and 
the defence of their country invited them to war ! 



160 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

If the danger of your king is not argument enough 
to persuade you, let the safety of your native coun- 
try move you, which is in danger of suffering all 
the inconveniencies of being made the seat of the 
war, seeing your birth, your wives, and children, 
oblige you to spend your blood in their defence : 
what have you to fear from the English army 
which is marching against you, seeing they are 
only new levied men, and undisciplined, which I 
could undertake to disperse with those of my 
household? but I am more afraid of those amongst 
you, who are not determined, as yet, if they shall 
assist me in the time of the engagement; you 
ought to remember it was always a fixed principle 
with your worthy ancestors, That life is a punish- 
ment to those who have lost their honour. Rouse 
then your courage, and suffer not victory to es- 
cape us, which shall certainly be ours, if you dis- 
cover any bravery at all upon this occasion ; other- 
wise I shall publish your ingratitude, and leave it 
to posterity to judge, whither cowardice or treason 
has the greatest share in your thus deserting the 
service of your king." 

The king could not moderate his wrath, though 
many of the nobility represented, " that they had 
acquired reputation enough, in that with so small 
a force, and levied in such haste, they had stopt 
the progress of their enemies powerful and nu- 
merous army, which had been so long a preparing, 
and which designed no less than to overrun the 
whole country, which though it had been eight 
days on the frontiers, yet never durst advance one 
mile within it ; they were not sensible that they 



OF KING JAMES V. 161 

had degenerated from the valour and merit of 
their forefathers, and should never give occasion 
to the king either to doubt of their courage or fi- 
delity. But they desired his majesty to consider 
how dangerous it would be, both for his person, 
and kingdom, to hazard a battle at such an unfit 
time ; he ought to remember Flodden Field, 
where rashness contributed more than any thing 
to the defeat, and lost the life of his father, and 
exposed their country to the mercy of his enemy : 
if he would be graciously pleased to listen to the 
advice of his faithful servants, and would suffer 
his affairs to be managed with patience, they could 
promise him a sure victory." 

It soon appeared, that the advice of the nobility 
was very fit at that time ; for the duke of Nor- 
folk leaving Berwick, had entered Scotland, and 
crossed the river Tweed at Kelso, and did not 
think there was any Scotch army to oppose his 
march ; but when news came to his camp, that 
king James was not six miles distant from him, 
with a considerable army, and designed to give 
him battle, this unexpected account of matters so 
terrified his soldiers, a great part of which followed 
more upon the account of plunder than for fight- 
ing, that they repassed the river in great disorder, 
leaving behind them their arms and baggage, and 
returned to their houses. Huntly, who knew of 
this, made no advantage of that disorder, and did 
not pursue them ; so from that time the king hated 
him. The lord Maxwell, who earnestly desired 
to recover in the king^s mind a good opinion of his 
nobility, came and proposed to his majesty, That 



162 THE LIFE AND DEATH 

if he would give him the command of ten thou- 
sand men, he would enter England by the way of 
Solway, which diversion would divide their enemy's 
force, and doubted not but he should do some 
action that should please his majesty. This de- 
sign was very like to turn to a good account, if it 
had not been ruined by the king's implacable aver- 
sion to the nobility : for the king, after he gave 
the command to Maxwell, a wise and experienced 
general, who detached a body of ten thousand 
men from the army, he then gave also a secret 
commission in writing to a young gentleman, 
called Oliver St. Clare, of no great family, and 
above all, who had no experience in any such 
matters, which strictly commanded all the army 
to acknowledge him for the king's lieutenant- 
general, which commission Oliver was not to open 
till the two armies was about to engage ; his de- 
sign in this was, That if that army routed the 
English, the nobility might pretend no share in 
the victory, whose pride above all things he de- 
sired to mortify. Maxwell passed the Solway, 
and was about to enter England, when there ap- 
peared on the top of a hill about one thousand 
five hundred of the enemy's horse, about two miles 
from his army, and was then about to pursue 
them, when St. Clare, according to the king's or- 
ders, is presently mounted on crossed pikes, that 
he might be seen by the army, and has his com- 
mission read with a loud voice : this unexpected 
turn of affairs, provoked all the soldiers so much, 
and especially Maxwell, that immediately they 
broke their ranks, and refused to obey the new 



OF KING JAMES V. 163 

general ; so confusion now prevailed instead of 
their former good order. The enemy perceiving 
this, improved it to their own advantage, and 
were resolved to attack them immediately whilst 
in disorder, before they were determined either to 
fight or retire; they charged them with great 
fury and a loud cry, whilst their suttlers, baggage, 
and servants, horse and foot were all mixed to- 
gether: few soldiers were killed in this encounter, 
but many were made prisoners. The news of this 
scandalous defeat when brought to the king, who 
was near at hand, almost distracted him ; some- 
times his thoughts was full of nothing but revenge 
against those who would not acknowledge St. 
Clare their general ; at another time he was racked 
with indignation and shame for that scandalous 
misfortune, and resolved to levy a new army, and 
either to rout his enemies, or to lose his life. 

But the prudent queen, who perceived that the 
king was distempered with melancholy and chagrin, 
and that the present bad posture of affairs required 
a peace, she procured a truce by the mediation of 
the earl of Angus, who for that good service had 
liberty granted him to return into Scotland. 

Upon the disbanding of the army the king 
came to Stirling, whither the queen came also, 
and was brought to bed of a daughter called Mary, 
who was queen of Scotland after her father's 
death ; this was a considerable comfort to them 
in their late troubles : but the long watchings, the 
constant perturbation of mind, and grief which he 
had suffered for about four months, had so weak- 
ened the king, that at length he was taken with a 



164* THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JAMES V. 

loss of appetite, which hindered from taking any 
nourishment, and that occasioned his death. 

He was a comely prince, of an ordinary stature* 
but strong to a wonder ; he was naturally a man 
of great abilities, of a penetrating judgement, and 
had made a greater figure in the worlds if those 
gifts of nature had been cultivated by a good edu- 
cation; but it was the unhappiness of that time, that 
learning was thought unbecoming a great man : 
he was gracious, a lover of justice, and punished 
thieves severely; he could endure much fatigue,and 
suffer trouble with a great evenness of temper ; 
the poor had as easy access to him as the great ; but 
withal he was very much given to his pleasures. 

Thus died king James, the fifth of that name, 
December 30th, 1541, more by grief than sickness, 
being in the flower of his youth, about thirty years 
of age, after he had reigned twenty-eight years. 



FINIS. 



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